HAROLD HUTCHISON
REPORTER
The Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) is pulling $8.5 billion from the investment firm BlackRock over its use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies.
The board informed the investment firm that it was being terminated as the manager of the Navarro 1 Fund in a Tuesday letter, which it provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The divestment represents the largest from the private firm, according to Fox Business Network. (RELATED: ‘We Will Not Back Down’: Major CEO Claims ‘Anti-Woke Backlash’ Is ‘Incredibly Dangerous For The World’)
“The PSF’s relationship with Blackrock was not in compliance with Texas Government Code Section 809, commonly known as Senate Bill 13, which prohibits state investment in companies like Blackrock that boycott energy companies,” Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey said in a Tuesday statement.
“BlackRock is helping millions of Texans invest and save for retirement,” a BlackRock spokesperson told the DCNF. “On behalf of our clients, we’ve invested more than $300 billion in Texas-based companies, infrastructure and municipalities, including $125 billion invested in the energy sector, including $550 million a joint venture with Occidental. We recently hosted an energy summit in Houston designed to explore how to strengthen Texas’ power grid.”
BlackRock has been accused of leveraging its investment in companies to push ESG issues, which push companies to prioritize social and environmental factors into their investment considerations instead of “simply considering the potential profitability,” according to Investopedia.
“Under Larry Fink’s leadership, BlackRock has been misusing client funds to push a political agenda for years. Nowhere was that more egregious than in Texas, where BlackRock was simultaneously trying to destroy the domestic oil and gas industry while managing funds that depended on royalties derived from that very same industry,” Hild commented in a post on X. “A more flagrant violation of fiduciary duty is difficult to imagine.”
“By divesting $8 billion from BlackRock, Chairman Kinsey and the Permant School Fund are not only fulfilling their role as fiduciaries to one of the largest education funds in the country but sending a clear message to Wall Street elites that people can no longer be bullied into complying with ESG’s destructive ideology,” Hild continued. “I look forward to seeing many more states follow suit.”
BlackRock saw almost $4.5 billion pulled from the company over its use of ESG in 2022. Republican Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti of Tennessee sued Blackrock in December, accusing the company of depriving consumers of “the ability to make an informed choice” about the potential impacts using ESG factors for investment.
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Keep this ball rolling.
Follow the lead of Texas….Fink is a fink.
Larry Fink is violating fiduciary duties, by indulging his politics with Other Peoples Money.
During the panel, Clinton and Fink labeled ESG opponents as “climate change deniers,” Hild posted.
And they say that. like it is a Bad Thing?
Larry (Laurence Douglas Fink) should have his “carbon footprint” determined by an independent group that could post the result here.
Then he should be required to present a plan showing how he would reduce his carbon (sic) cloud by 97% by 2030.
Just saying 🙂
When I see investors, engineering and consulting firms splashing DIE, ESG, ruinables, and “sustainability” all over their websites, I refuse to send them money or projects. While it is understandable that their marketers are always looking for new niches, they must be made to understand that these woke trends produce ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
I am an environmental and earth systems professional, and I recall 30 to 40 years ago every engineering firm and large corporation out there added an “environmental services” division. Colleges and universities worldwide ginned up soft “Environmental Studies” degree programs, and youngsters flocked to them. Unfortunately, they soon realized that, while environmental concerns are an essential element of human enterprise, they don’t drive the “parade” from behind. Environmentalists don’t build, manufacture or produce anything, and the job and career field for these graduates is very limited. The profession and industry soon closed or spun off environmental divisions, or they shrank to providing basic project services.
DIE and ESG will soon suffer the same fate.
DIE and ESG will soon suffer the same fate.
I have to wonder if that is true. I hope it is.
I disagree. They do produce something.
They produce division, hatred and poverty. As they were designed to do.
We wait with bated breath for the announcement of whom the new stewards of the Texas schools fund will be.
The corporatism/fascism connection in our government is obvious. Eight+ million+
young military aged males have entered into the country under this administration
over the past 3 years. We’re moving in the wrong direction. The “climate
change” narrative is part of the deceptive scheme…this is not going to end well.
There’s a ready solution right here.
Hope this sets off the toppling of a chain of dominoes.
All wars are driven by economics and control of resources. Even civil wars.
Money and who gets their hands on it will likely be the main drivers of a swing away from the progressive agenda. It would be nice to think these decisions will be driven by an understanding that the environmental scaremongering is without merit and the DEI/ESG movements are patently harmful to society and the environment rather than a benefit, but in the end money will drive an eventual return to sanity.
Sold my minor holdings of Blackrock stocks in 2023. There are many alternatives.
More good news. I guess Blackrock didn’t take notice when I pulled my retirement funds from them. Corporate America is second only to our government for being mindless lemmings.