Philanthropy is different from charity, though there is some overlap. Charity aims to relieve the pain of a particular social problem, whereas philanthropy attempts to address the root cause of the problem.
[CommonDreams.org, 2022-02-15] Private Equity Executives Hide Behind Philanthropy as Their Firms Ravage the Earth. The new report's co-author says it's a "serious problem" that executives can invest in fossil fuels and then "greenwash their reputations." | "The private equity industry largely evades public scrutiny, despite investing billions in fossil fuel investments." | "Private equity threatens to undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice."
A report published Tuesday [2022-02-15] by a pair of nonprofits shines a light on the "Wall Street heavyweights" at private equityfirms who "burnish their reputations through hundreds of millions of dollars in philanthropy - even as their investments help drive climate catastrophe" [anthropogenic climate change]. The new analysis from LittleSis [Public Accountability Initiative] and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project - entitled Private Equity's Dirty Dozen: 12 Firms Dripping in Oil and the Wealthy Executives Who Run Them [local copy] - highlights that as asset managers and big banks face rising scrutiny for their climate-wrecking conduct, "private equity firms and the billionaires and multi-millionaires who lead them have largely escaped scrutiny." "This needs to change," the document declares. "Private equity firms are fueling the climate crisis and environmental injustice with investments in fracked gas, oil pipelines, coal plants, and offshore drilling. These damaging investments mirror private equity's other destructive impacts in other areas of the economy like in retail, restaurants, healthcare, and incarceration [Prison Industrial Complex | weaponization of poverty]."
Meanwhile, executives at these firms "are some of the most influential people in the world," the analysis continues. "They are chummy with powerful elected officials, to whom they donate piles of money. They hold prestigious trusteeships at elite universities and cultural institutions. Buildings are named after them. They own professional sports franchises." "Between their yachts, mansions, and private jets, these private equity executives live some of the lushest lives of anyone on the planet," the report adds. "But in many cases, they sustain their wealth and status by steering their firms' investments into - among other dubious things - dirty energy."
LittleSis and Private Equity Stakeholder Project targeted:
While some of the firms didn't respond to requests for comment from The Guardian - which was granted exclusive access to the report - others pushed back, with spokespeople for The Blackstone Group and KKR pointing to each firm's investments in the global energy transition.
Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm, "has one of the most substantial portfolios of fossil fuel assets across its various funds," the report says, specifically noting its nearly 7% stake in the company that owns the Dakota Access Pipeline - which has provoked years of Indigenous-led protests met with brutal crackdowns by law enforcement and private security.
Dubbed "Wall Street's top political donor," Stephen A. Schwarzman "is a top ally, donor, and fundraiser" for former President Donald Trump the analysis says, pointing out that the Blackstone executive reportedly "even defended Trump's election denialism at a CEO meeting shortly after the 2020 election" [2020 United States elections | Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election]. Stephen Schwarzman - Blackstone's chairman, CEO, and co-founder - has also "doled out hundreds of millions to get prestigious buildings named after him" and "is a current or past member of some of the most powerful business, policy, and think tank boards," the report notes.
Report co-author and LittleSis research director Derek Seidman said in a statement that "it's a serious problem when superrich private equity executives who invest billions in harmful fossil fuels can greenwash their reputations through acquiring coveted board seats at prestigious universities and cultural institutions." "This helps these Wall Street billionaires hide the fact that they're among the world's biggest oil and gas barons," Derek Seidman said. For each executive, the groups put together graphics that illustrate their ties to powerful institutions and people as well as their firm's investments in the fossil fuel industry. Stephen Schwarzman's chart reveals connections to prestigious universities along with controversial fossil fuel projects.
The other profiles continue in a similar fashion. The The Carlyle Group section states that "no other private equity buyout firm - not Blackstone, not KKR - is currently as bullish on oil and gas as Carlyle," and "few private equity tycoons have bought as much influence - and are as waist-deep in dirty fossil fuels - as billionaire David Rubenstein," its co-founder.
In addition to holding positions at various other institutions, KKR co-founder and co-chairman Henry Kravis is a "director of the Palm Beach Civic Association alongside other hedge fund billionaires - and Palm Beach's main performing arts center bears the Kravis family name," the report says. "He [Henry Kravis] owns a beachside mansion alongside a slew of other Wall Street billionaires like Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone), Carl Icahn (Icahn Enterprises), Kenneth C. Griffin (Citadel LLC), and Nelson Peltz (Trian Fund Management)." [Note also, re: Nelson Peltz: Wendy's Chairman and Top Owner Is Trump Donor, Fundraiser and Friend.]
"KKR owns dozens of energy companies, with over 80% of its energy holdings in the extraction, transportation, or burning of climate-destroying fossil fuels," according to the document [see also: anthropogenic climate change]. "Moreover, from racist and colonial pipelines to toxic oilfield development, KKR is behind some of the dirtiest and most controversial oil and gas projects around." Along with pouring money into activities that heat the planet, "Henry Kravis and KKR have no qualms about pillaging companies or investing in unethical products in order to turn a profit," the analysis adds, noting that "the firm [KRR] helped oversee the notorious raid of Toys 'R' Us that devastated the company's workers."
Responding to the report, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) - a member of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs - tied its findings to criticism of the private equity industry's broader practices. "By plowing money into dirty coal plants, offshore drilling, and deforestation, private equity threatens to undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice," Elizabeth Warren told The Guardian. "It's just another page from private equity's standard playbook: boost short-term profits at the expense of the long-term well-being of communities."
Reiterating that "the private equity industry largely evades public scrutiny, despite investing billions in fossil fuel investments that have spewed greenhouse gases from pipelines, fracking operations, and power plants across the globe," report co-author and Private Equity Stakeholder Project research director Alyssa Giachino [local copy] advocated for a swift shift across the industry. "Private equity should move away from fossil fuels," she said. "It's necessary to help mitigate climate change and it's necessary for environmental justice."
[JacobinMag.com, 2021-10-11] Philanthropy Is a Scam. The superrich often claim their philanthropy is meant to "change the world." But it's really meant to keep it exactly the way it is.
