Business
North Carolina-headquartered Barings named in Climate Action 100+ probe
The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, in a report, says its probe has led to a loss of $17 trillion worth of assets under management by the Climate Action 100+. That includes $6.6 trillion from BlackRock, $4.1 trillion by State Street, $3.1 trillion by JPMorgan, $1.89 trillion by PIMCO, and $1.6 trillion by Invesco.
From The Center Square
By Alan Wooten
An interim report by the Judiciary – Climate Control: Exposing the Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing – labels the initiative a “climate cartel,” one which is involved in collusion and has not been investigated by the Biden administration.
One North Carolina company is among more than 130 in the United States being asked by a congressional committee about involvement with environmental, social and governance initiative Climate Action 100+.
U.S. Reps. Deborah Ross and Dan Bishop, a Democrat and Republican respectively from North Carolina, are among the 42 members of the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives seeking answers. In addition to the letter sent to Charlotte-headquartered Barings, the probe also seeks answers on involvement by retirement systems and government pension programs.
The probe and letters dated last Tuesday to Climate Action 100+ is trying to find answers to how the companies are operating with tactics, requests and actions; and garner documentations. A noon Aug. 13 deadline is set for responses.
Antitrust law, and the possible breach of it, is cited in each letter. Antitrust laws, the Department of Justice says, “prohibit anticompetitive conduct and mergers that deprive American consumers, taxpayers, and workers of the benefits of competition.”
An interim report by the Judiciary – Climate Control: Exposing the Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing – labels the initiative a “climate cartel,” one which is involved in collusion and has not been investigated by the Biden administration.
“The climate cartel has declared war on our way of life, escalating its attacks on free markets and demanding that companies slash output of the critical products and services that allow Americans to drive, fly, and eat,” the report says. “The Biden administration has failed to act upon the climate cartel’s apparent violations of longstanding U.S. antitrust law. The committee, in contrast, is actively investigating their anticompetitive behavior.”
The report says with launch of the probe came withdrawals from the effort by BlackRock, State Street and JPAM, “three of the world’s largest asset managers.” Asset managers BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard own 21.9% of shares, and vote 24.9% of the shares, within the Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500.
More than 272,000 documents and 2.5 million pages of nonpublic information were reviewed, the Judiciary says.
Most of the letters went to addresses in New York, Massachusetts and California.
Barings, according to its website, “is a global asset management firm which seeks to deliver excess returns across public and private markets in fixed income, real assets and capital solutions.”
In general, ESG investing – an acronym used in conjunction with environmental, social, and governance policies in investments – measures company policy. These policies typically align with progressive, or left, thoughts when it comes to politics.
Other names of description are sustainability, such as treatment of natural resources, gas emissions and climate regulations. A company’s policies for profits shared in the community, and how health and safety are impacted, relates to the social aspect. Governance usually aligns not only with integrity of accountability toward shareholders, but also diversity in leadership.
Issues in a company’s industry and the principles of ESG often shape policy.
Bishop is a member of the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust within the Judiciary Committee. The 26-member subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
Managing Editor
Business
Taxpayer watchdog calls Trudeau ‘out of touch’ for prioritizing ‘climate change’ while families struggle
From LifeSiteNews
The prime minister told a G20 panel this week that fighting so-called ‘climate change’ should be more important to families than putting food on the table or paying rent.
Canada’s leading taxpayer watchdog blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for being completely “out of touch” with everyday Canadians after the PM earlier this week suggested his climate “change” policies, including a punitive carbon tax, are more important for families than trying to stay financially afloat.
In speaking to LifeSiteNews, Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) federal director Franco Terrazzano said Trudeau’s recent comments show his government “continues to prove it’s out of touch with its carbon tax.”
“Canadians don’t support the carbon tax because we know it makes life more expensive and it doesn’t help the environment,” Terrazzano told LifeSiteNews.
Terrazzano’s comments come after Trudeau told a G20 panel earlier this week that fighting so-called “climate change” should be more important to families than putting food on the table or paying rent.
Speaking to the panel, Trudeau commented that it is “really, really easy” to “put climate change as a slightly lower priority” when one has “to be able to pay the rent this month” or “buy groceries” for their “kids,” but insisted that “we can’t do that around climate change.”
Terrazzano said that the Trudeau government’s carbon tax in reality “impacts nearly all aspects of life in Canada by making it more expensive to fuel up our cars, heat our homes and buy food.”
“The carbon tax also puts a huge hole in our economy that we can’t afford,” he said to LifeSiteNews, adding that if Trudeau really wanted to help Canadians and “prove it understands the struggles facing Canadians,” then it should “scrap the carbon tax to make life more affordable.”
On Thursday, Trudeau, who is facing abysmal polling numbers, announced he would introduce a temporary pause on the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) for some goods.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre this afternoon said about Trudeau’s temporary tax holiday that if he is serious about helping Canadians, he would cut the carbon tax completely.
People’s Party of Canada (CPC) leader Maxime Bernier called the move by Trudeau a cheap trick to try and “bribe” Canadians, noting that it will not work.
“What a ridiculous gimmick. Bribing Canadians temporarily with borrowed money,” Bernier wrote.
“When the real solution is to stop growing the bureaucracy, cut wasteful spending, stop sending billions to Ukraine, eliminate subsidies to businesses and activist groups, stop creating new unsustainable and unconstitutional social programs, eliminate the deficit, and THEN, cut taxes for real. None of which he will do of course.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, a survey found that nearly half of Canadians are just $200 away from financial ruin as the costs of housing, food and other necessities has gone up massively since Trudeau took power in 2015.
In addition to the increasing domestic carbon tax, LifeSiteNews reported last week that Minister of Environment Steven Guilbeault wants to create a new “global’ carbon tax applied to all goods shipped internationally that could further drive-up prices for families already struggling with inflated costs.
Not only is the carbon tax costing Canadian families hundreds of dollars annually, but Liberals also have admitted that the tax has only reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent.
Business
UN climate conference—it’s all about money
From the Fraser Institute
This year’s COP wants to fast-track the world’s transition to “clean” energy, help vulnerable communities adapt to climate change, work on “mobilizing inclusivity” (whatever that means) and “delivering on climate finance,” which is shorthand for having wealthier developed countries such as Canada transfer massive amounts of wealth to developing countries.
Every year, the United Nations convenes a Conferences of Parties to set the world’s agenda to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It’s the biggest event of the year for the climate industry. This year’s conference (COP29), which ends on Sunday, drew an army of government officials, NGOs, celebrities and journalists (many flying on GHG-emitting jet aircraft) to Baku, Azerbaijan.
The COP follows a similar narrative every year. It opens with a set of ambitious goals for climate policies, followed by days of negotiating as countries jockey to carve out agreements that most favour their goals. In the last two days, they invariably reach a sticking point when it appears the countries might fail to reach agreement. But they burn some midnight oil, some charismatic actors intervene (in the past, this included people such as Al Gore), and with great drama, an agreement is struck in time for the most important event of the year, flying off to their protracted winter holidays.
This year’s COP wants to fast-track the world’s transition to “clean” energy, help vulnerable communities adapt to climate change, work on “mobilizing inclusivity” (whatever that means) and “delivering on climate finance,” which is shorthand for having wealthier developed countries such as Canada transfer massive amounts of wealth to developing countries.
Some of these agenda items are actually improvements over previous COPs. For example, they’re actually talking about “climate adaptation”—the unwanted stepchild of climate policies—more this year. But as usual, money remains a number one priority. As reported in the Associated Press, “negotiators are working on a new amount of cash for developing nations to transition to clean energy, adapt to climate change and deal with weather disasters. It’ll replace the current goal of $100 billion (USD) annually—a goal set in 2009.” Moreover, “experts” claim the world needs between $1 trillion and $1.3 trillion (yes, trillion) in “climate finance” annually. Not to be outdone, according to an article in the Euro News, other experts want $9 trillion per year by 2030. Clearly, the global edifice that is climate change activism is all about the money.
Reportedly, COP29 is in its final section of the meta-narrative, with much shouting over getting to a final agreement. One headline in Voice of America reads “Slow progress on climate finance fuels anger as COP29 winds down.” And Argus News says “climate finance talks to halt, parties fail to cut options.” We only await the flying in of this year’s crop of climate megafauna to seal the deal.
This year’s conference in Baku shows more clearly than ever before that the real goal of the global climate cognoscenti is a giant wealth transfer from developed to developing countries. Previous climate conferences, whatever their faults, focused more on setting emission reduction targets and timelines and less about how the UN can extract more money from developed countries. The final conflict of COP29 isn’t about advancing clean energy targets or helping vulnerable countries adapt to climate change technologically, it’s all about show me the money.
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