Florida divests from BlackRock over its ESG policies (2022)

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December 6, 2022
Last week, the state of Florida, at the direction of Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and State Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis, became the latest state to divest funds from BlackRock over its sustainability and ESG policies:

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“Florida will replace BlackRock as the manager of $2bn in state Treasury funds, part of a spreading Republican backlash against sustainable investing. The move comes after Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican US presidential candidate in 2024, led a resolution to stop the state’s pension funds from considering environmental, social and governance principles to guide investment. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has been outspoken about the need to consider climate change in investing decisions under chief executive Larry Fink. Republican state leaders have argued that ESG investing incorporates unwarranted concerns about climate change and curtails exposure to oil and gas companies in a way that can hurt performance. “Florida’s Treasury Division is divesting from BlackRock because they have openly stated they’ve got other goals than producing returns,” state chief financial officer Jimmy Patronis said on Thursday. “There’s no lack of companies who will invest on our behalf, so the Florida Treasury will be taking its business elsewhere.” Florida will divest $1.4bn of long-term securities and $600mn in short-term funds from BlackRock, Patronis’s office said. The assets are a tiny fraction of the $8tn that BlackRock managed at the end of the third quarter. Republican states had already pulled more than $1bn from BlackRock as of October. Florida is the first state to remove some of its longer-term investments from the manager over ESG concerns. At least 19 Republican-leaning states including Florida have now taken action to restrict ESG factors in investing or targeted asset managers for potentially boycotting the energy sector, according to an analysis by law firm Ropes & Gray.”

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