Texas joined a group of Republican-led states accusing BlackRock Inc. of putting woke investment criteria above shareholder profits in state pension funds.
In a letter to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, 19 attorneys general, mainly from conservative states, challenged his company’s reliance on environmental, social, and governance criteria at the expense of investor returns.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in an Aug. 8 news release that ESG climate goals harm Texas’s oil and gas economy and state pension fund performance. The release said that BlackRock’s actions might also violate state and federal law.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, recently sent a letter to several states, claiming it has joined climate organizations merely for “dialogue” and is focused solely on its fiduciary duty.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich led the charge in responding to the investment firm by pointing out inconsistencies and conflicts between BlackRock’s letter (pdf) and its public statements and commitments.
According to a news release from Brnovich’s office, BlackRock’s focus goes beyond “dialogue.” The descriptions on the company’s website include ensuring the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change and support the Paris Agreement.
Anyone purchasing a BlackRock fund is forced to support ESG, whether they like it or not, Brnovich alleged.
Brnovich’s Aug. 4 letter said BlackRock’s actions raise anti-trust concerns and appear to intentionally restrain and harm the energy markets’ competitiveness.
“Our states will not idly stand for our pensioners’ retirements to be sacrificed for BlackRock’s climate agenda. The time has come for BlackRock 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 states.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, representing the coal-producing state of West Virginia, accused the company of coercion.
