When the private equity industry [1] is taking its lumps, it's a good time to work on image. Financial News Online reports that the Carlyle Group outlined plans at Super Return 2008 that would upgrade its efforts to consider, among other things, social issues, when it makes investment decisions. The idea that a fund should take extreme job losses and pollution into account isn't really all that new. In some cases, like the TXU deal, they cannot be avoided. But it may also be a bit more than PR. You do not want to lodge yourself on the agenda of environmentalists in today's era of climate change.  

For more:
- here's the article [2]

Related Articles:
Gerstner puts a happy face on private equity. Article [3]
More on the Carlyle Group's healthcare gambit. Article [4]