The company’s fossil fuel policies have come under fire.
QUICK FACTS:
- BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset management company, has lost about $1 billion in investments from Republican-led states due to the firm’s left-leaning investment policies.
- Thus far, state treasures from Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, and Arkansas have announced they’ll be withdrawing a cumulative $1 billion in funds from BlackRock.
- South Carolina State Treasurer Curtis Loftis told journalists he was pulling $200 million of its holdings from BlackRock by the end of this year over the company’s “leftist worldview.”
- Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks and Arkansas’ Dennis Milligan are reportedly removing $100 million and $125 million, respectively.
- Additionally, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar also weighed in, slamming BlackRock for allegedly “boycotting energy companies” that do not push its “climate change” and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) agenda.
STATE OFFICIALS’ STATEMENTS:
- Curtis Loftis, the South Carolina State Treasurer said in a statement, “I will not allow our financial partners to undermine my fiduciary responsibility to maximize investment returns while accepting a prudent level of risk for the benefit of our citizens. It is imperative that we stand up to BlackRock and resist the pressure to simply fall into line with their leftist worldview.”
- Texas’ Hegar said, “The environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) movement has produced an opaque and perverse system in which some financial companies no longer make decisions in the best interest of their shareholders or their clients, but instead use their financial clout to push a social and political agenda shrouded in secrecy.”
- “Our review focused on the boycott of energy companies, rather than a review of the entire ESG movement. This research uncovered a systemic lack of transparency that should concern every American regardless of political persuasion, especially the use of doublespeak by some financial institutions as they engage in anti-oil and gas rhetoric publicly yet present a much different story behind closed doors,” Hegar added.
BACKGROUND:
- Louisiana made headlines when they announced they were removing their state treasury funds from BlackRock, citing economic and political concerns, as American Faith previously reported.
- Included in Schroder’s complaints was the assertion that BlackRock’s “blatantly anti-fossil fuel policies” would “destroy Louisiana’s economy.”
- The state treasurer didn’t pull any punches, saying of the investing giant, “I’m convinced that ESG investing is more than bad business; it’s a threat to our founding principles: democracy, economic freedom, and individual liberty. It threatens our democracy, bypasses the ballot box and allows large investment firms to push political agendas.”
- BlackRock is an official partner of the ‘Great Reset’-advancing World Economic Forum (WEF). The financial asset manager’s CEO, Lary Fink, is a WEF board member.
