West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in writing a letter to BlackRock Inc., urging the financial firm to “come clean on whether it actually values our states’ most valuable stakeholders, our current and future retirees or risk losses even more significant than those caused by BlackRock’s quixotic climate agenda.”
The letter calls out BlackRock’s apparent practices of putting investors’ interests and returns behind the asset manager’s politics. Some states work with BlackRock for retirement plans, pension funds, and investments, which can raise particular concerns if the company’s focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors comes at the expense of investors.
“Again, this is an example of a company pushing their climate agenda, using investments to force companies and people to abide by their ideology,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “Rather than engaging stakeholders in dialogue, this company is resorting to coercion.”
The move by the attorneys general comes on the heels of a letter BlackRock’s chief client officer sent to many of the states in which BlackRock claims it focuses solely on its fiduciary duty and has joined climate organizations merely for “dialogue.” The attorneys general responded by pointing out inconsistencies and conflicts between BlackRock’s letter and its public statements and commitments. BlackRock’s focus isn’t “dialogue,” as the descriptions on its website include ensuring the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change and support the Paris Agreement.
The coalition demands that BlackRock clarify its mixed messages and come clean on whether it actually values our states’ most valuable stakeholders, our current and future retirees.
“How much more can companies like BlackRock squeeze a citizenry that’s already dealing with the Biden administration’s failed economic policy, which is putting political agenda ahead of people’s economic welfare,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “Record-high inflation, astronomical gas prices, what more can the nation handle?”
BlackRock is one of five Wall Street financial firms the state is refusing to do business with because of the companies’ boycott of the fossil fuel industry.
West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore recently announced BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. ineligible for state banking contracts.
Original source can be found here.
