BlackRock Exits Climate Activist Group After Pressure From Republicans

BlackRock announced this week that it was leaving a major climate activist group after Republicans criticized its involvement with the group. 

The company said in a letter that it would be leaving the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative, an organization of asset managers committed to “supporting the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner.” At one point, NZAM boasted its members controlled over $57 trillion in assets. 

BlackRock’s announcement comes after 11 Republican attorneys general, led by Texas AG Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit in November against the asset manager over its involvement with groups like NZAM. Texas’ lawsuit accused BlackRock of violating antitrust laws by allegedly engaging in a conspiracy with other asset managers to constrict the market for coal. BlackRock has denied the allegations and said the suit is without merit. 

BlackRock’s letter, first obtained by Bloomberg, acknowledged that its involvement with NZAM “caused confusion regarding BlackRock’s practices and subjected us to legal inquiries from various public officials.”

“Our participation in NZAM didn’t impact the way we managed client portfolios,” the company said. “Therefore, our departure doesn’t change the way we develop products and solutions for clients or how we manage their portfolios.”

Despite exiting NZAM, BlackRock said it would “continue to assess material climate-related risks, alongside other investment risks, in delivering for clients.”

NZAM, which also lost the involvement of asset giant Vanguard, said it was sad to see BlackRock go.

“We are disappointed to see any investor withdraw, but as a voluntary initiative, we respect any individual decisions signatories take,” NZAM told The Hill. “Climate risk is financial risk. NZAM exists to help investors mitigate these risks and to realise the benefits of the economic transition to net zero.”

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Will Hild, the executive director of Consumer’s Research, an organization opposed to the injection of politics into business, told The Daily Wire that the result of companies like BlackRock’s involvement in NZAM was to raise prices for consumers and lower the return for investors. 

“This should be music to the ears of every consumer in the entire country,” he said of BlackRock leaving NZAM. “It’s a good thing for consumers because it’s going to help alleviate some of the inflationary effects of ESG and net zero.”

He attributed BlackRock’s exit to Donald Trump’s re-election and Paxton’s lawsuit.