‘Win For Freedom’: House Republicans Celebrate Exodus Of Companies From ‘Climate Cartel’
A growing number of corporations are exiting a left-wing “climate cartel” amid pressure from congressional Republicans, The Daily Wire learned on Friday.
The committee has been investigating organizations like the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative and Climate Action 100+ which it says have worked together with corporations to push leftist ESG goals and decarbonization of the American economy. Earlier this month, NZAM paused its work after a flurry of high-profile companies, like BlackRock, left the company.
The exodus from NZAM also includes companies like AllianceBernstein, Northern Trust Asset Management, HASI, Muzinich and Co., Breckinridge Capital Advisors, Stonepeak, V-Square Quantitative Management, and SKY Harbor Capital Management, the committee told The Daily Wire.
Many of the companies, including Northern Trust Asset Management and SKY Harbor Capital Management, left after being contacted by the committee.
“More than 70 companies have left woke ESG organizations like NZAM and Climate Action 100+ since the Committee’s investigation started,” Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) told The Daily Wire. “This a huge win for freedom and American prosperity. All U.S. financial institutions should follow suit and abandon the climate cartel.”
At one point, NZAM, which says its goal is to push net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050 or sooner, boasted its members controlled over $57 trillion in assets. The company has now suspended all activities following the departures.
BlackRock, which controls over $11 trillion in assets, left NZAM on January 9, one day before a deadline given by the company by the Judiciary Committee to respond to questions about whether its investment policies were impacted by its involvement with climate groups.
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In a letter explaining its withdrawal, BlackRock executives admitted that the company’s involvement with NZAM “caused confusion regarding BlackRock’s practices and subjected us to legal inquiries from various public officials.”
“Our participation in NZAM didn’t impact the way we managed client portfolios,” the company said. “Therefore, our departure doesn’t change the way we develop products and solutions for clients or how we manage their portfolios.”
The Judiciary Committee has been investigating the cooperation between climate groups and corporations for the last two years and released a report called “Climate Control: Exposing The Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing,” in June.
Companies like BlackRock have also been under pressure at the state level. In November, 11 Republican attorneys general, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit in November against BlackRock over its involvement with groups like NZAM.