Business
Black Rock latest to leave Net Zero Alliance
From The Center Square
By
US House committee investigating 60 companies over ESG policies
Blackrock Inc. is the latest to announce it has left a United Nations-backed Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), among several within one month and not soon after Donald Trump was elected president. It did so as it and roughly 60 companies are being investigated by Congress for allegedly colluding as a “woke ESG cartel” to “impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.”
Last month, Goldman Sachs was the first to withdraw from the alliance, followed by Wells Fargo, The Center Square reported. Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan next announced their departure.
According to the “bank-led and UN-convened” alliance, global banks joined, pledging to align their lending, investment and capital markets activities with a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.
Major U.S. banks began leaving the alliance after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to increase domestic oil and natural gas production and pledged to go after “woke” companies.
They also announced their departure two years after 19 state attorneys general launched an investigation into them for alleged deceptive trade practices connected to ESG.
While the companies haven’t appeared to seem daunted by state investigations, Trump’s reelection appears to be a different matter.
“BlackRock has hung in there as long as it could, but the pressure has become too great, and the reputational and legal risks too high, just before Trump takes office. It won’t be the last financial organization to quit a net zero initiative,” Hortense Bioy, Morningstar Analytics director of sustainable investing research, told Bloomberg News.
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar has expressed skepticism about companies claiming to withdraw from ESG commitments, noting there is often doublespeak in announcements, The Center Square reported. This includes statements made by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Blackrock.
Blackrock claims its “participation in NZAMi didn’t impact the way we managed client portfolios. Therefore, our departure doesn’t change the way we develop products and solutions for clients or how we manage their portfolios. … Our commitment to helping our clients achieve their investment goals remains unwavering,” Bloomberg reported.
Last month, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced it was investigating more than 60 US-based asset managers’ involvement in the alliance, including BlackRock, Inc., JP Morgan Asset Management, Rockefeller Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors, among others.
The committee also issued a report, “Climate Control: Exposing the Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing,” saying it found “direct evidence of a ‘climate cartel’ consisting of left-wing activists and major financial institutions that collude to impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.”
Under the Trump administration, the committee will continue to investigate if “existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry.” It also maintains that the companies “must answer for their involvement in prioritizing woke investments over their own fiduciary duties.”
The committee sent letters to dozens of entities in 12 states and the District of Columbia requesting them to provide information by Jan. 10. The majority are located in New York, Massachusetts and California.
Business
Canada Suddenly Says It’ll Buy More US Products After Trump Threatened To Slap It With Tariffs
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Owen Klinsky
Canada’s ambassador to the United States said Monday the country is prepared to purchase more U.S. goods following President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Trump has repeatedly lamented the trade deficit between the U.S. and its neighbor to the north, threatening to levy a 25% tariff against the country or even annex Canada and make it “the 51st state.” His remarks appear to have already impacted trade relations, with Canada’s Ambassador Kirsten Hillman saying the country is ready to buy more from the United States in order to appease the incoming president, according to an interview she gave to The Associated Press Monday.
“He has a negotiating style which involves positioning himself in the best way he can for discussions,” Hillman told the AP. “We are happy to source what we can from the United States.”
Hillman identified military procurements as a potential category where Canada could increase its consumption of U.S. products, including Canada’s next fleet of submarines: “We have some big military procurements coming up for example, replacing our entire submarine fleet. Maybe those are some purchases that can happen from the U.S.”
The U.S. had a nearly $68 billion trade deficit with Canada in 2023, a decrease of $12.2 billion from 2022, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The overall U.S. trade deficit sat at over $770 billion in 2023 — the highest of any country globally.
The ambassador also gave Trump credit for the creation of Canada’s $1 billion-plus border security and immigration plan: “We have moved really quickly, I’ll be honest, because President Trump focused the mind to put together a full package of improvements.”
Border patrol agents apprehended almost 24,000 individuals along the northern border in fiscal year 2024, representing a 140% increase from the year prior, data from the U.S. Customs And Border Protection shows.
“President Trump has promised tariff policies that protect working Americans from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets,” Trump-Vance Transition Spokesman Brian Hughes told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As he did in his first term, he will implement economic and trade policies to make life affordable and more prosperous for our nation, while simultaneously leveling the playing field for American manufacturers.”
The Canadian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Owen Klinsky
The Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) coalition — a United Nations–sponsored collection of financial services companies that have pledged to negate their portfolio’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner — suspended activities after investment firm BlackRock announced its departure from the group, according to a press release.
BlackRock, which manages more than $10 trillion and has been a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, announced its exit from NZAM Thursday, with its Vice-Chair Philipp Hildebrand saying the firm’s involvement in the environmental coalition “caused confusion regarding BlackRock’s practices and subjected us to legal inquiries from various public officials.” Now, NZAM has pressed pause altogether, halting operations while it conducts a review of its activities, an NZAM press release published Monday said.
JUST IN: The UN-backed Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) group has announced that it will be shutting down completely, following @BlackRock‘s departure. pic.twitter.com/o5htgvFEiH
— Will Hild (@WillHild) January 13, 2025
A slew of other financial services had left NZAM prior to BlackRock’s Thursday exit, including Goldman Sachs Group, Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. BlackRock’s exit came amid a broader corporate strategy shift away from ESG investing, with the firm only supporting about 4% of the 493 environmental and social investment proposals that shareholders put forward between the end of June 2023 and the end of June 2024, down from a rate of 47% in 2021.
BlackRock was a major supporter of ESG investing in years prior, with CEO Larry Fink saying in 2020 that “climate risk is investment risk” and that climate change would lead to a “fundamental reallocation of capital.”
“The destruction of NZAM is a huge win for consumers,” Will Hild, executive director of the conservative nonprofit Consumers’ Research, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Although there is a lot of work left to be done, what was effectively a cartel of asset managers has finally ceased taking the focus of businesses off of consumers, raising prices for everyday Americans everywhere from the gas pump to the grocery store.”
When reached for comment, NZAM referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to its press release.
New lawsuit challenges Ontario’s decision to prohibit safe consumption services
The Trump Administration Must Bring Moderna to Heel
Musk Completely Derails UK Political Establishment, Accuses PM’s Party Of Covering Up Muslim Rape Gangs
The Pandemic Planners Come for Hoof and Hen…and Us Again
-
Health2 days agoIvermectin & Fenbendazole Cancer Secrets Revealed
-
Business1 day agoThe problem with deficits and debt
-
International1 day agoCalifornia’s Fire Catastrophe Is Largely a Result of Bad Government Policies
-
Alberta1 day agoAlberta’s wildland firefighters are on their way to assist in California
-
Alberta2 days agoAlberta Premier Danielle Smith visits Trump at Mar-a-Lago
-
Economy1 day agoFixing the Trudeau – Guilbeault Policy Mess May Take Longer Than We’d Like – Here’s Why
-
City of Red Deer1 day agoNomination Period Open for Red Deer 2025 Municipal Election
-
Alberta1 day agoCommunity Fireguard Program Protecting Canmore and the Bow Valley from wildfires