Ladies and gentlemen, gather round for a moment of silence—or perhaps a loud guffaw—for the untimely suspension of the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative. Once the darling of “woke capitalism” and self-proclaimed savior of the planet, this alliance of investment giants has decided to fold its tent, apparently under the weight of its own contradictions and a little nudge from reality.
An alliance of investment giants-turned-self-styled climate change crusaders looks to be in tatters after it suspended its activities on Monday amid a backlash against “woke” capitalism.
The Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative was rocked last week by the exit of BlackRock, the world’s biggest investor, as The Post exclusively reported.
NZAM was touted as a coalition of climate-conscious asset managers promising to steer trillions of dollars into sustainable investments. It had all the buzzwords: net zero, decarbonization, stakeholder capitalism. But as we now see, when rhetoric meets resistance, even the mightiest of “green” alliances can crumble.
BlackRock’s Dramatic Exit
Larry Fink’s BlackRock, managing a modest $11.5 trillion, was the largest player in NZAM. But last week, BlackRock bolted, citing “confusion” over the initiative’s goals and the growing heat from legal and political scrutiny. Confusion? For a group that allegedly led the charge on climate finance, confusion is an odd defense.
But let’s not kid ourselves. The real story here isn’t confusion; it’s the political backlash. Republican lawmakers had been turning up the heat, questioning NZAM’s anti-fossil fuel stance and labeling it as a threat to free-market principles. For a firm like BlackRock, whose fiduciary duty is to maximize returns, the last thing it needed was to be dragged into a legal and political firestorm.
The Woke Facade Collapses
This retreat is about more than one firm’s exit. NZAM’s decision to suspend activities is a tacit admission that its grand vision of global decarbonization through financial engineering was built on a house of cards. It turns out that arm-twisting investors into abandoning fossil fuels—still the lifeblood of modern economies—isn’t as easy as issuing a press release.
What NZAM and its allies failed to grasp is that most of the world isn’t ready to trade reliable energy sources for expensive “green” dreams. They didn’t count on a backlash from those who actually like to keep the lights on without bankrupting their economies.
“Woke Capitalism” Meets Reality
This debacle also lays bare the hollowness of so-called woke capitalism. For all the chest-beating about saving the planet, NZAM and its members were quick to run for the exits when the going got tough. They’ve proven that their commitment to climate goals was conditional, a mere marketing gimmick rather than a principled stand.
This is a classic case of virtue signaling gone awry. Companies like BlackRock were happy to bask in the glow of green virtue as long as it was profitable—or, at least, painless. But when real-world pressures mounted, from legal inquiries to political challenges, those lofty ideals were quickly jettisoned.
The Broader Implications: A Lesson in Overreach
NZAM’s suspension underscores the dangers of pushing aggressive, top-down policies without a clear understanding of economic realities or public sentiment.
The truth is, the world runs on fossil fuels, and no amount of corporate virtue signaling can change that overnight. Initiatives like NZAM ignore the complexities of global energy needs and the fact that renewables, aren’t ready to replace hydrocarbons on a large scale.
Even more damning is how NZAM’s failure exposes the elitist arrogance of the climate crusade. These financial titans thought they could dictate policy from their boardrooms, ignoring the voices of everyday citizens and lawmakers. That hubris has now come back to bite them.
A Final Thought: The Emperor Has No Clothes
The suspension of NZAM is more than just a setback for one initiative—it’s a symbolic defeat for the entire ideology of climate authoritarianism. It’s a reminder that policies based on coercion and moral grandstanding are bound to fail when confronted with economic and political realities.
So, let us raise a toast to NZAM, not in mourning but in mockery. Its collapse is a victory for common sense and a warning to all who would attempt to impose utopian visions on a world that isn’t interested. May its demise serve as a lesson to the climate cartel: the road to net zero is paved with good intentions—and bankrupt ideologies.
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Going into subsidy mining depends purely on politics, and as “renewables” are only viable as subsidy mines, when the subsidies go away, so do “renewables”.
Slàinte Mhaith
Hvala Bogu
Woke was only ever a “social fad“, an extension of “virtue-seeking” and “political correctness”.
A fad of “seeming” !
Oh no. Extremely lucrative, while it lasted.
Money walks, while bullshit talks.
Well let us hope that they will start lending money to poor countries so that they can buy coal plants and have a decent lifestyle.
The retreat is actually on two fronts. NZAM is one, The other, also recently abandoned by Blackrock, is ESG. Just in time, as American Airlines pension fund just got sued for violating its fiduciary duty by espousing ESG in writing. They will lose, bigly.
Turns out that ‘lawfare’ is a two edged sword. Now it’s our turn.
And the only winners are the lawyers
No actually it isn’t.
What’s being practiced by the Climate Fascists IS “lawfare.”
Getting sued for violating one’s fiduciary duty is a LEGITIMATE CAUSE OF ACTION, it is *NOT* “lawfare.”
The Climate Fascists have no legitimate cause of action, their litigation represents nothing more than their attempts to force their agenda by misuse of the courts because they can’t get it legislated into law politically.
Thank You.
My pleasure.
The megalomaniacal narcissists of the ClimateCult Mutual Admiration Society are slowly waking up to the reality of having pissed off a large portion of the population, while simultaneously leaving themselves open to charges of financial improprieties! Like the Enron “smartest people in the room,” it couldn’t happen to more more deserving folks! Bless their little hearts!
I consistently reminded my subordinate managers that as smart and knowledgeable as they were their unionized workers were at least smart and knowledgeable as they were and there were a lot more of them with a lot more time on their hands.
Or as my dad was found of saying, “Bless their pointed little heads.”
Article tip – Climate Jeezus Taketh Away – by James Howard Kunstler
The author is a hyperbolic headline click bait crackpot
An honest article title would have been:
Several Large Financial Firms, Out of 700, Withdraw from Voluntary Net Zero Financial Coalition
Nope – the headline hits the target. There are 3 USA banks left in the UN NZ alliance:
per this list:
Amalgamated Bank
Areti Bank
Climate First Bank
https://www.unepfi.org/members/
And anyone in the USA should avoid these remaining woke banks.
Your number of 700 surpasses the 538 listed in all counties, all industries in all finance initiatives.
700 is correct for GFANZ, the parent organization for NZAM.
There are GFANZ member firms in 50 nations.
Major US banks and corporations are increasingly cautious about antagonizing the incoming administration and are withdrawing from climate-focused initiatives.
If you read the bank press releases, as I have and you have not, they sound very woke and suggest the banks will continue their alternate anergy lending after they leave the GFANZ coalition.
This article is about asset managers in NZAM. There is no indication they have changed their strategies about investing in alternative energy stocks and bonds.
RG, dunno where you are coming from but it is nowhere I would want to be.
Fact. There are exactly three maJor global asset managers. Two have now left. You count the other about 700 midgets as important, you have already lost. Pathetic. Only one left matters.
the only interesting remaining question is what will State Street do? They are based in Boston, so is a big blue state question. I bet you they also fold very soon.
You apparently love the article’s Eulogy conclusion so much that you do not care that there is ZERO evidence that any financial firms have changed their policies on alternative energy lending and investments.
Their recent actions seem like virtue signaling for Trump. They still say they support Net Zero or the Energy transition.
I want logical conclusions backed by data. You prefer conservative wishful thinking
These withdrawals are the result of unjustified political pressure by Republicans
BlackRock Exits Major Climate Group Amid Wall Street Exodus – Asian Wealth Management and Asian Private Banking
NZAM has recently suspende activities bur GFANZ has not. It remains to be seen if NZAM will disband. GFANZ and NZAM seemed like leftist public relations non-profit NGOs. They did not do anything else I can find.
Corrections
This article was about NZAM with over 325 members as of July 2024
NZAM (Net Zero Asset Managers initiative) is directly related to GFANZ (Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero) as NZAM is one of the several alliances under the GFANZ umbrella, meaning it is a part of a larger group focused on achieving net-zero emissions across the financial sector, with NZAM specifically focusing on asset managers committed to net-zero goals;
I had just read another article about
the GFANZ. a Net Zero alliance. As of 2024, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) had over 700 members. GFANZ is a coalition of financial institutions that work together to help the world transition to net-zero emissions by 2050.
The Global Net Zero Financial Cartel, Falling Apart — Manhattan Contrarian
There are no data to know whether being in these voluntary organizations really affected financial decisions concerning alternative energy, or getting out of them changed those policies.
“A Eulogy” in the article title is speculation unsupported by any data (aka BS).
“ GFANZ is a coalition of financial institutions that work together to help the world transition to net-zero emissions by 2050. ” Well, as THAT will never be achieved, folks should have nothing to do with placing any money there.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/blackrock-executive-mark-wiedman-leave-firm-ft-reports-2025-01-14
Career shift or timely departure ahead of the cops? U.S. SEC and DOJ will be looking at Black Rock after the congressional report last month identified non-competetive processes on the part of the “Climate Cartel :” a group of investment managers, bankers, and NGOs like Climate Action +100, that seem to use DEI and climate policy in an attempt to take over the energy industry, including “big oil.”
Story tip.
Fines on car emissions.. OUCH !!!
How much will you be fined if you buy a new petrol/diesel or car ? $20,000 ? Or more ?
The more Aussies that see this the better. !!
Very nice Charles.
The tragedy of the LA fires is a reflection of damage caused by false Climate Change practices.
Actually, is it is a clear example of what happens when money that should be devoted to maintaining a safe and secure society, is squandered in pursuit of false goals/ideals based of flawed understanding of reality.
The usual candidates are already stepping forward to present themselves as ‘experts’ claiming the LA tragedy of political incompetence, owes its origin to the human impact on climate conditions.
Those experts could not be more wrong. Thank you Mr Mann.
Today, a group of active political thinkers and activists will be meeting for our monthly review of current activities/events in one of our favourite drinking dens. There, we will be raising our glasses to the news, financial investment businesses have turned the page on ESG and are increasingly recognising their Net Zero folly.
The worry for all of us is, how did these mega companies, responsible for guarding and investing our pensions and other investments fall for the Greta based nonsense in the first place?
Its Davos next week, there the World’s movers and shakers have got to finally break away from this Climate Crisis nonsense. It is well past time to start back towards sustainable wealth creation rather than wealth destruction.
The LA fires are a clear example of the damage caused when those in the highest public office fail to do the job they are in place to do. Those officials that spend their time on virtue signalling, (Gavin) rubbing along with their Hollywood heroes can now walk a mile in their hero’s shoes and smell the acrid smoke of their achievements.
With luck, tomorrow they might wake up and smell the coffee.
“It’s Davos next week…” It’d be nice if someone posted videos of the talks at Davos, also a list of the attendees. After what I’ve read about the past conferences I’d love to hear what the in-crowd are planning.
Until the next ideology comes along and captures their interest.