Texas Pulls $8.5B From BlackRock in Stunning Blow to ESG Movement

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It's increasingly not looking good for BlackRock or the ESG movement as Texas has dealt a serious blow to the Environmental, Social, and Governance bad business practice that has controlled so much of the corporate world for a few years now. 

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According to Fox Business, Texas has scrapped an $8.5 billion deal with BlackRock after an investigation found that the multi-trillion dollar asset manager was engaging in a boycott of energy companies: 

In an announcement first shared with FOX Business, Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey said the so-called Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) had delivered a notice to BlackRock on Tuesday, informing the New York City-based firm of the action. According to Kinsey, the move was made in accordance with a 2021 state law that seeks to distance the state and its large public purse from financial institutions boycotting the oil and gas sector.

"The Texas Permanent School Fund has a fiduciary duty to protect Texas schools by safeguarding and growing the approximately $1 billion in annual oil and gas royalties managed by the Texas General Land Office," Kinsey said in a statement Tuesday. "Terminating BlackRock’s contract ensures PSF’s full compliance with Texas law."

"BlackRock’s dominant and persistent leadership in the ESG movement immeasurably damages our state’s oil & gas economy and the very companies that generate revenues for our PSF. Texas and the PSF have worked hard to grow this fund to build Texas’ schools," he continued. "BlackRock’s destructive approach toward the energy companies that this state and our world depend on is incompatible with our fiduciary duty to Texans."

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BlackRock and the ESG movement are very intent on bringing about a more "green future" which includes pulling funds from oil and gas companies and giving them toward "renewable" energy companies. Not only is this destructive toward Texas's infrastructure which is heavily based on oil and gas, but "green energy" is also known to be destructive to the very land environmentalists claim it helps. 

(READ: The Expense and Destruction Caused by Renewable Energy)

This might seem like a drop in the bucket to an asset firm that handles around $10 trillion in assets, but this is another blow that is costing BlackRock, and the ESG movement in general, a shocking amount of money. 

States all over the country are divesting from ESG policies and funds, costing the movement and the fund managers who push them, like BlackRock, trillions of dollars. 

(READ: You’ve Cost the ESG Movement Trillions and Congratulations Are in Order)

The reasons for the withdrawal are a multitude, but ultimately, ESG pushes a lack of good business decisions on a company that ultimately cost it billions of dollars with some of the smaller companies closing their doors for good. The ESG movement demands a strict adherence to what many would deem "woke" ideologies and practices, alienating customers and reducing the quality of a product, causing customers to walk away and find alternatives. 

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The number of examples is growing all the time. 

(READ: For Corporations, Being Woke Is Absurdly Expensive Thanks to You)

It's only a matter of time before ESG crumbles under its own weight, forcing BlackRock and fund managers like it to readjust and rebrand. The question is, will they learn their lesson or keep making the same mistake of pushing politics on the people that they clearly don't want? 

Judging by Larry Fink's "forcing behaviors" talk, probably not. 

(READ: The Expense and Destruction Caused by Renewable Energy)


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