How private equity impacts the environment

Private equity firms have a purpose: to make as much profit as possible for their investors. But what if those investments are contributing to climate risks?

Amanda Mendoza is a senior researcher at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, which created the Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard. The scorecard looks at “the top 20 global private equity firms invested in fossil fuel infrastructure,” and evaluates their “energy portfolios, their emissions, and the firms’ alignment with climate standards.”

The report found that these firms have over a trillion dollars in energy investments that produce high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Mendoza pointed out the problem isn’t restricted to the firms themselves — Americans are often indirectly invested in private equity through pension funds.

“This is U.S. pensioners’ futures that are being invested in these private equity funds,” Mendoza said. “We also want to make sure that the public has this information, … because there is, as we all are well aware of, a massive buildout with the data center expansion and AI that is causing a lot more fossil fuel expansion as well. The public really deserves to know who is behind that”

“Marketplace” host Amy Scott spoke with Mendoza about the scorecard.

Click the audio player above to hear their conversation.