Trump woke up the financial giants “cartel” and dealt a fatal blow 11 days before taking office – is Watt angry about this?

From the Daily Caller

Irving Klinsky
Contributor

Asset management giant BlackRock sent a letter to institutional investors on Thursday announcing its exit from an emissions-focused investor group, the Financial Times reported.

The firm, which manages more than $10 trillion in assets and has been a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, has exited the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) consortium, a group of financial services firms funded by the United Nations Alliance, the companies have pledged to achieve net-zero portfolios by 2050 or earlier, according to the Financial Times. The move comes less than two weeks after President-elect Donald Trump took office, planning to embrace fossil fuels in his second term, following a number of other companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Related: UN reportedly taking action to unlock tens of millions Providing climate finance to countries run by terrorists)

According to the Financial Times, deputy chairman Philipp Hildebrand wrote in a letter to investors that the asset manager's NZAM membership “led to confusion in BlackRock's approach, and subject us to legal investigations by multiple public officials.”

The company began implementing ESG initiatives in 2020, CEO Larry Fink Pointing out that “climate risk is investment risk”, climate change will trigger a “fundamental reallocation of capital”. However, the world's largest asset manager has recently backtracked on its ESG efforts, backing only about 493 environmental and social investment proposals from shareholders between the end of June 2023 and the end of June 2024. %, down from 47% in 2021.

BlackRock has also abandoned some diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, editing DEI language to be less racially oriented.

Investment firm Vanguard exits NZAM in 2022, while financial services firm State Street remains in the environmental alliance.

“The news that BlackRock is exiting NZAM should be ringing in the ears of every American consumer,” Will Hild, executive director of consumer research at the conservative nonprofit, told the Daily Caller News Foundation). “NZAM is an illegal cartel of asset managers that promotes harmful and costly net zero policies across the economy. The activities of NZAM and its members have raised prices for Americans from gas stations to grocery stores.

When contacted for comment, BlackRock referred a report to DCNF confirming their departure from NZAM.

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