Carlyle Group
At a Glance
Industry
Financial Services and Insurance
Project Types
Goals/Targets, Supply Chain, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy
Year
2022
Location
Washington, DC
Summary
Ben supported Carlyle’s ESG & Impact team through an array of functions ranging from portfolio engagement, carbon footprints, due diligence, and ad hoc research.
Goals
Carlyle is an alternative asset management specializing in global private equity, global credit, and investment solutions, with $376 billion of assets under management. As part of its mission to build better businesses and reach net-zero, Carlyle is looking to engage and provide resources to portfolio companies on ESG strategy and decarbonization pathways and track its progress against its internal climate goals.
Solutions
Carlyle enlisted Ben as their 4th EDF Climate Corps fellow to contribute to 3 main workstreams.
Portfolio Company ESG Integration: Ben engaged portfolio companies across Carlyle’s global buyout funds in developing ESG strategies as part of its value creation plan. He conducted ESG performance benchmarking, suggested organizational alignments, and provided company-specific resources and recommendations to improve business strategy and reduce carbon footprint.
Carbon Footprint Exercise: Working directly with 27 portfolio companies to onboard and perform a bottom-up carbon footprint analysis, Ben created a data template to prepare individual carbon debriefs alongside a carbon management plan and science-based target setting model.
Carlyle’s Climate Commitment: Ben interfaced with external consultants on drafting a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the firm’s net-zero climate goal. He also developed a climate goal master tracker and dashboard to track progress over time and provide insight on actionable areas to meet the goal.
Potential Impact
Ben’s involvement across various workstreams has contributed to idea sharing on leading practices for carbon management and portfolio and overall program level ESG strategy, ultimately allowing Carlyle to build better businesses. His work also emphasized improvements to data collection, validation, and analysis that will help Carlyle maintain accurate data and communicate progress and insight internally across management as the firm continues progress towards its net-zero goal.