by Leslie Eastman at legalinsurrection.com
Fink cites DeSantis decision to pull funds as part of reason. Meanwhile, Florida’s governor calls for ‘crippling the ESG movement’ in his new book.
BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, whose firm has attempted to foist environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) standards on the global business community, has stopped using the term, whining it has become too politicized.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is reportedly “ashamed” by the environment, social and governance (ESG) investment criteria debate and argued the term was being “misused by the far left and far right.”
“I’m ashamed of being part of this conversation,” Fink said, according to Axios.
Fink admitted during a conversation with the outlet at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Sunday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to pull $2 billion in assets from Blackrock in 2022 hurt his firm.
“When I write these [investment] letters, it was never meant to be a political statement. … They were written to identify longterm issues to our longterm investors,” he said on Sunday.
In fact, the press is laying the blame thick on Republicans, in general, for the Bud-Lite level of popularity ESG is now experiencing.
Republican politicians have attacked ESG as a way for the corporate world to implement what they argue is a politically liberal agenda, triggering a backlash from Democrats who are seeking to defend it.
The controversy has led to some Wall Street firms backing down on ESG commitments, with insurers abandoning a United Nations-backed climate alliance becoming the latest example last month. BlackRock has itself been the target of investigations by some Republican-controlled states, and even an investment boycott in Texas.
However, as we reported, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been an important leader in the pushback in a movement that attempts to force companies to adopt fiscally draining and time-wasting policies based on climate pseudoscience and social engineering. As we reported in March o this year, he led a coalition with 18 other governors against ESG.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., joined forces with 18 GOP governors to reject President Joe Biden’s environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) “agenda,” claiming the push is a “direct threat” to the economic freedom of American retirees.
Governors in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming formed the alliance Thursday in what they described as an effort to ensure American retirement funds are not used for “woke” investments.
In fact, a significant part of Desantis’ newsbook is focused on his plans to “cripple” ESG.
read more