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BlackRock Will Continue Leftist ESG Push in New Year Despite GOP Backlash
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, will continue to push for leftist environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies when it engages with companies and exercises its voting rights — despite backlash from Republicans.
The asset manager says it will make no significant changes to the way it plans on engaging with companies and voting on environmental and social issues next year. Due to this leftist push, BlackRock and its CEO, Larry Fink, have been accused of moving “away from its fiduciary duty in general as an asset manager” and into “political activism.”
Reuters reported that BlackRock said in an annual update on its stewardship policies that it only made a “few changes” and, in fact, will encourage more disclosures on environmental risks:
One was to mention in the policy for the first time its support for enhanced disclosures from companies exposed to risks and opportunities relating to nature.
The other was to encourage companies to release reports on their sustainability performance far enough in advance of their annual meeting so that investors could properly assess the data.
“As a result, we do not anticipate material changes in our voting, and much of our engagement with companies will be continuing the dialogue on material risks and opportunities that we had in 2022,” it said.
This comes as there has been significant pushback from Republicans across the United States, with some state treasurers divesting state funds and calling for Fink to “resign or be removed” from the firm’s leadership team “immediately” over his obsession with pursuing a leftist “political agenda.”
Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research, an educational nonprofit dedicated to consumer information — who has been critical of BlackRock in the past — slammed the money manager and Fink in a lengthy statement:
BlackRock’s recently released annual stewardship report was an unsurprising reassertion of its steadfast dedication to the ESG farce. The money manager continues to double down, betting hardworking Americans’ investment and pension dollars on CEO Larry Fink’s progressive agenda. However, many have joined efforts to take action against BlackRock’s activism, and the results are beginning to compound. Earlier this month, Florida joined a host of states to divest from the money manager, removing a record $2 billion in assets. And last week in Texas, in response to a subpoena, Texas Senator Brian Hughes forced BlackRock to defend its ESG policies as well as its membership in the controversial global climate change group Climate Action 100. These actions come on the heels of reports that investors are pulling more money from ESG funds than is being added for the first time in a decade. BlackRock is out of step with the markets and the needs of its shareholders. Although claiming in its annual report to invest in accordance with its fiduciary duty, actions clearly do not match words as BlackRock continues to put politics ahead of profits.
As Hild noted, Flordia was one of the most recent states to divest state funds from the asset manager. Earlier this month, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis announced the Sunshine State would be pulling $2 billion in assets away from BlackRock due to the state’s opposition to the company’s major push for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies.
Last week, the Texas state Senate confronted BlackRock executive Dalia Blass over her company’s membership to the controversial global climate change group Climate Action 100, a coalition of investors that pushes corporations to “take necessary action on climate change” and has spearheaded the left’s ESG movement.
Additionally, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives also launched an anti-trust investigation into the same climate group for working like a “cartel” to “ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.”
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
John Podesta Made a Fortune Consulting for Green Energy Billionaires. He Now Oversees a Federal Fund That Could Make Them Rich.
Podesta’s net worth has skyrocketed since his time in the Obama administration, financial disclosures show
John Podesta, the powerful Democratic consultant who President Joe Biden tapped to oversee a multibillion-dollar climate investment fund, discussed those investments with an environmental group that had him on the payroll just months before, according to a new financial disclosure.
Galvanize Climate Solutions, a green energy investment firm founded by billionaire Tom Steyer, participated in an Oct. 31 meeting with Podesta and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to discuss how to best use the $369 billion in federal funds. Galvanize paid Podesta $84,000 in advisory fees from December 2021 through August 2022, financial disclosures show. Ethics watchdogs say Podesta hasn’t technically violated any laws but hosting his former employer at the meeting was ethically dubious.
"Alas, it's a similar story these days, sophisticated players checking the necessary boxes to avoid clear violations while still appearing to advance the interests of former employers and clients," said Michael Chamberlain, the director of the ethics watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust.
Podesta’s net worth has skyrocketed since he last served in the White House as counselor to former president Barack Obama. His net worth ranged between $4.6 million to $9.2 million in 2014, according to his financial disclosure that year. By 2022, his net worth ballooned to between $9.3 million to $28.4 million, according to a copy of his latest financial disclosure obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Steyer was jubilant after Biden tapped Podesta to lead the $369 billion fund, which was created as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The billionaire said Podesta was the perfect choice to "champion" the climate investment fund in a gushing statement issued Sept. 9. Days later, on Sept. 13, Steyer said the fund represented a "transformative, revolutionary, unprecedented" investment opportunity for the clean energy industry.
Steyer isn’t Podesta’s only billionaire patron with a stake in the green energy industry. He reported receiving payments from the HJW Foundation, a private foundation established by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss. Wyss has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to leftist groups in the United States, including dark money juggernauts the Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund. Wyss is also a founding member of the Center for American Progress, a leftwing think tank Podesta founded in 2003 and chaired from 2017 through September 2022.
It’s not clear exactly how much Podesta received from Wyss’s foundation before joining the Biden administration. While Podesta identified the HJW Foundation as a source of compensation exceeding $5,000, he didn’t disclose the exact amount he received from the Swiss billionaire.
Podesta also raked in $140,000 in consulting fees from the Sandler Foundation, a charity founded by multibillionaire banker Herbert Sandler that funds leftwing groups including Podesta’s Center for American Progress, the ACLU, Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club. Sandler died in 2019.
China hawks on Capitol Hill have raised concerns that Podesta could steer resources from the climate fund to America’s top adversary. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Ted Cruz (R., Texas) have noted that Podesta has urged the United States and China to "align" on renewable energy policy, and that the longtime Democratic consultant once urged Chinese businesses to directly invest in the American economy.
The White House did not return a request for comment.
Published under: Climate, Ethics, John Podesta, Tom Steyer
Biden Admin Not Enforcing Conflict-of-Interest Rules, Ethics Watchdog Group Alleges
Campaign Legal Center calls for an investigation into federal agencies' stock-trading conflicts
The Biden administration is not enforcing conflict-of-interest rules in several of its federal agencies, a nonpartisan ethics watchdog group alleged in a series of legal complaints.
After the Wall Street Journal reported that thousands of government officials traded stocks in companies regulated by their agencies, the Campaign Legal Center called on the government's ethics agency to investigate four federal agencies.
The agencies "have repeatedly allowed senior officials to own and trade stock in companies that appear to create conflicts of interest with their official duties," the complaint said. "An investigation can determine whether the scope and severity of deficiencies in the ethics programs’ guidance on financial conflicts of interest is greater than currently publicly known."
A Republican majority in the House could mean more sweeping ethics-reform legislation, including overhauling the government's rules for officials owning stock. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) is considering banning or restricting members of Congress and senior officials from owning stock, an aide told the Journal.
"The public has a right to know that the officials tasked with protecting the security of our country are always acting in the public’s interest, not in their own private financial interest," said the complaint.
The group filed complaints to the inspectors general for the Environmental Protection Agency, Defense Department, Federal Trade Commission, and Health and Human Services Department, as well as the Office of Government Ethics, the Journal reported:
Among the examples the group cited from the Journal’s reporting was an EPA official who reported owning oil and gas stocks with his husband; a defense official who traded stock in a Chinese company while the agency deliberated over whether to add the company to a blacklist; and an FTC official who traded stock in Facebook, now Meta Platforms Inc., while his office coordinated an investigation involving the company.
The FTC, EPA, and Defense Department defended their ethics programs, saying their inspectors general investigated possible violations and the Office of Government Ethics conducts yearly reviews. The HHS did not respond to the Journal‘s questions about their ethics program.
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