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South Carolina latest state to divest BlackRock funds over ESG (2022)
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
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| • What is ESG? • Enacted ESG legislation • Arguments for and against ESG • Opposition to ESG • Federal ESG rules • ESG legislation tracker • Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's weekly ESG newsletter |
On October 9, South Carolina became the latest in a string of states to confirm that it will be removing its investments from BlackRock Inc.’s asset management because of the firm’s dedication to ESG and what the states calls its sustainability investing. On October 11, The Washington Examiner broke the story:[1]
| “ | South Carolina will be divesting all of its BlackRock holdings by the end of the year, the latest instance of backlash from Republican state officials over the investment firm's stance on fossil fuels.
State Treasurer Curtis Loftis’s office confirmed the plan to the Washington Examiner on Monday. His office said Loftis has already been removing BlackRock-managed funds over the past five years and is in the process of divesting the final $200 million of BlackRock holdings by year’s end. “I will not allow our financial partners to undermine my fiduciary responsibility to maximize investment returns while accepting a prudent level of risk for the benefit of our citizens. It is imperative that we stand up to BlackRock and resist the pressure to simply fall into line with their leftist worldview,” Loftis said…. In addition to South Carolina and Louisiana, Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks said he has yanked about $100 million in state funds from BlackRock, and Arkansas State Treasurer Dennis Milligan divested some $125 million out of money market accounts managed by the firm, which is the largest money manager in the world. In total, the actions by the state treasurers will equate to more than $1 billion in divested funds by year’s end…. On Friday, BlackRock launched a webpage committed to “setting the record straight” about how it handles investment decisions and disclosure and its pursuit of ESG. BlackRock claims its views on climate risk aren’t unique, and its new webpage noted that an overwhelming majority of companies in the S&P 500 publish sustainability reports.[2] |
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See also
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's ESG newsletter
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Fox Business, "Missouri latest state to divest from BlackRock over ESG initiatives: 'Woke political agenda,'" October 18, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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