CEO of world’s largest financial asset manager promotes World Economic Forum’s “stakeholder capitalism.”
QUICK FACTS:
- BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on Tuesday defended the practice of ‘stakeholder capitalism,’ Forbes reports.
- Stakeholder capitalism is an agenda promoted by the World Economic Forum that pushes businesses to embrace left-wing environmentalist policy.
- Fink pushed back against critics of the movement who have tried to paint his actions as politically motivated and anti-business, in his annual letter to corporate America, reports Forbes.
- The letter defended BlackRock’s focus on “sustainability,” a left-wing buzzword, and expects the countless companies under the firm’s control to “play a role in decarbonizing the economy.”
- In his letter—titled “The Power of Capitalism”—Fink wrote that stakeholder capitalism is not about politics and it is not being “woke,” in an attempt to distance stakeholder capitalism from the term, even though the neo-liberal breed of environmentalism the CEO pushes in the letter is embraced by left-wing politics, not conservatism.
- A 2004 peer-reviewed publication in the academic journal Ecological Economics concluded that left-wing parties and individuals are “more pro-environmental than their right-wing counterparts.”
- The publication goes on to explain that left-wing politics “embraces sustainability, efficient resource allocation and equitable distribution and is skeptical towards the ability of unregulated markets to achieve these objectives.”
- The authors conclude that ecological economics, like the breed put forward by BlackRock’s Fink, “is more likely to be supported by left-wing parties and individuals.”
BLACKROCK’S STAKE IN LEFT-WING ENVIRONMENTALIST POLICY:
“$509 billion. That is the value of sustainable investments that are currently a part of BlackRock’s portfolio,” according to Forbes.
BACKGROUND:
- Fink also announced plans to launch a Center for Stakeholder Capitalism which he said will create a forum for research, dialogue, debate and explore relationships between companies and their stakeholders, Forebs reports.
- BlackRock recently announced that it oversees assets are worth $10 trillion, making it the largest asset manager in the world and one of the most influential voices in the boardrooms of several major U.S. and European firms, Forbes also notes.
- “The company and Fink’s vocal embrace of sustainable practices have invited criticism from several corners alleging that they are beholden to antibusiness activism and political correctness. Some oil-producing U.S. states are even pushing for legislation to cut ties with asset managers who are engaged in a push for sustainability,” Forbes goes on to say.
