Louisiana has informed BlackRock that the state will be liquidating all investments in the corporation, blaming it for the promotion of politically driven green energy—under environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards—over fossil fuels critical to the state’s economy.
“Your blatantly anti-fossil fuel policies would destroy Louisiana’s economy,” Treasurer John Schroder wrote (pdf), on Oct. 5, to Laurence Fink, CEO of BlackRock.
“Therefore, Louisiana Treasury will liquidate all BlackRock investments by the end of 2022. To date, we have divested $560 million. We are strategically divesting over a period of time so state money is not lost to the detriment of our citizens. Once complete, this divestment will reflect $794 million no longer entangled in BlackRock money market funds, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holdings.”…