Carlyle Sets Net Zero by 2050 and Near-Term Climate Goals for Meaningful, Immediate Action with a Focus on Real Emissions Reductions

Washington, DC and New York, NY - Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) today announced its commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner across investments. Carlyle’s commitment not only establishes the ultimate goal of net zero, but also sets forth the following near-term goals across Carlyle’s majority-owned corporate private equity, power and energy portfolio companies:

• 75% of Carlyle’s portfolio companies’ Scopes 1 and 2 emissions will be covered by Paris-aligned climate goals by 2025; and
• After 2025, all new majority-owned portfolio companies will set Paris-aligned climate goals within two years of ownership.

Carlyle is among the first major global private equity firms to join the call to accelerate the transition to a net zero economy with the establishment of both short- and long-term climate goals. Importantly, these commitments are not driven just by portfolio allocation decisions, which can create emissions reductions on paper but not in the atmosphere. Rather Carlyle’s approach is grounded in driving real emissions reductions within our portfolio companies. In order to create decarbonization pathways across its portfolios, Carlyle will continue to partner with companies to drive better data collection and clear progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Kewsong Lee, Carlyle’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “Collectively, it is imperative that the private equity industry focus on investing, rather than divesting, in order to enact real progress on the energy transition. In announcing our commitment to net zero, we hold ourselves accountable to drive real emissions reductions within our portfolio companies. Investors need to be at the vanguard of helping companies decarbonize across all sectors of the economy. Not only does this strategy have a higher carbon reduction potential, but it is also key to making companies more competitive in a decarbonizing world – leading to better performance and better results for our investors.”

Meg Starr, Carlyle’s Global Head of Impact, said, “The energy transition isn’t solely about selecting companies that are climate leaders today – we need to actively create the climate leaders of tomorrow as well. As a partner to over 260 portfolio companies worldwide, it is our responsibility to empower companies across industries to embark on a successful journey to net zero with robust, Paris-aligned climate goals and the tools to achieve them. While the path to creating a less carbon-intensive world is ever evolving, we are committed to supporting our companies and encouraging private equity industry stakeholders to work together to drive meaningful change.”

Carlyle’s work to meet these goals has already begun. The firm has completed its second year of bottom-up carbon footprinting of Scope 1 and 2 emissions for its majority-owned portfolio companies in the recent vintages of its flagship buyout funds, providing significant support for companies to understand and gather more robust emissions data. With the help of Carlyle’s dedicated ESG & Impact team, in just two years the number of majority-owned portfolio companies in Carlyle’s most recently invested US Buyout fund which track carbon footprints increased from 22% to 100%. And in its most recently invested European Buyout fund, portfolio companies tracking carbon footprints increased from 35% to 100%.  Building on this hands-on support, Carlyle also rolled out an “Energy + Carbon Playbook” for portfolio companies in 2021, providing a step-by-step resource to design, create, and execute robust decarbonization strategies.

Carlyle has a proven track-record on climate as the first major private equity firm to set and achieve carbon neutral operations in 2018. In 2021, Carlyle co-led the creation of the ESG Data Convergence Project to track ESG metrics – including greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy use – and standardize reporting in private equity. The collaboration recently announced a milestone commitment of over 100 global General Partners and Limited Partners representing $8.7 trillion in AUM and more than 1,400 portfolio companies. Carlyle also recently completed its second year of reporting under the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework, as one of the first major private equity firms to report using the framework in 2020. As part of its net zero commitment, Carlyle plans to regularly report progress against its commitments and will continuously reevaluate goals against industry standards.

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About Carlyle

Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Global Investment Solutions. With $293 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2021, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs more than 1,800 people in 26 offices across five continents. 

Forward-looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to our expectations regarding net zero greenhouse gas emissions goals. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “outlook,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions.  Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements including, but not limited to, global socio-demographic and economic trends, energy prices, technological innovations, climate-related conditions and weather events, insurance applicability, legislative and regulatory changes, and other unforeseen events or conditions, and those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the SEC on February 11, 2021, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.  These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in our filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

This release does not constitute an offer for any Carlyle fund.

Contact

Brittany Berliner
+1 (212) 813 4839
Brittany.Berliner@carlyle.com