Private equity firms ploughing billions into fossil fuels, analysis reveals

Private equity firms have invested $1tn (£750bn) into the energy sector since 2010, according to researchers. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Private equity firms are using US public sector workers’ retirement savings to fund fossil fuel projects pumping more than a billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere every year, according to an analysis.

They have ploughed more than $1tn (£750bn) into the energy sector since 2010, often buying into old and new fossil fuel projects and, thanks to exemptions from many financial disclosures, operating them outside the public eye, the researchers say.