Esg, because Louisiana also drops BlackRock
Louisiana will withdraw nearly $ 800 million from BlackRock's funds in protest of its ESG policies. The front of republican states hostile to the largest asset manager company in the world widens. All the details
The state of Louisiana, in the United States, will withdraw $ 794 million from the funds of BlackRock, the largest asset management company in the world, as a form of protest against its "sustainability" strategies. The criticism, in practice, is ESG, those factors that evaluate the environmental ( environmental ), social ( social ) and management ( governance ) impact of an investment.
PROTECTING THE LOUISIANA OIL INDUSTRY
Louisiana Treasurer John Schroder explained that the "divestment is necessary to protect Louisiana from BlackRock's obligations, which would cripple our important energy sector." Louisiana – and the Gulf Coast region more generally – is a major hub of the US oil, gas , and petrochemical industry.
THE CAPITALS ALREADY WITHDRAWN
Schroder said Louisiana authorities have already withdrawn $ 560 million from BlackRock funds.
THE CRITICS AT BLACKROCK
BlackRock – which was managing nearly $ 85 trillion in assets at the end of June – is receiving strong criticism from various directions. On the one hand, environmental activists argue that it is doing too little to "decarbonise" its portfolio, ie removing companies and projects related to fossil fuels. On the other hand, many Republican Party politicians accuse it of boycotting the oil & gas industry.
THE TEXAS MOVE …
At the end of August, the Texas public accountant, Glenn Hagar, accused BlackRock ( and others) of boycotting energy companies, prohibiting Texan agencies and local administrations from entering into contracts.
… OF WESTERN VIRGINIA …
West Virginia also banned BlackRock and four other large financial firms from conducting new business with state agencies the previous month due to the alleged boycott of the oil industry.
… AND OF THE ARIZONA
BlackRock has also come under scrutiny by a group of American attorneys general – headed by the state of Arizona, also governed by the Republican Party – because, according to the indictment, its attention to ESG factors would overshadow the return. economic investment.
BLACKROCK'S FOSSIL INVESTMENTS
Yet BlackRock is a shareholder in many of the major American liquefied gas exporting companies such as Cheniere Energy, Tellurian, Sempra and Dominion Energy (based in Texas or Louisiana), as well as large oil companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/blackrock-louisiana-esg/ on Fri, 07 Oct 2022 10:13:19 +0000.