LASSMAN: Financial Giants Are Suddenly Realizing The Left’s ESG Movement Has Serious Downsides
Daily Caller News | October 16, 2022 | Kent Lassman

Advocates for aggressive environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards have tried to achieve social and political objectives through anti-democratic and unrepresentative means.

That choice has now begun to catch up to them. What these advocates haven’t earned at the ballot box they have been trying to take through other, more coercive, means. More specifically, the decision to weaponize the financial industry to direct investment flows toward favored green and renewable projects has begun to backfire.

But there are costs for all of this fervor and for mixing political objectives with commercial goals. . . . Bloomberg News reported this week that “banks may not have originally understood the full litigation risks tied to signing net-zero commitments.”

DLA Piper is among the law firms saying any company making a net-zero claim without scientific underpinnings may be viewed as having misled consumers.”

In case there is any misunderstanding, in the banking and finance world terms like “full litigation risks” and “misled consumers” ring out like a five-alarm fire. BlackRock and others are living with the consequences of political advocacy. What started as a trickle has emerged as a wave of state governments recoiling from the perceived focus on anything other than returns.

During a September Congressional hearing, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was asked by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.-D) to pledge not to fund any more oil and gas projects.

His response, “Absolutely not and that would be the road to hell for America.”

. . . paved with Godot intentions.

BlackRock Stock Downgraded Over Investments in ESG
American Greatness | October 18, 2022 | Eric Lendrum

The asset management company BlackRock, which has been widely criticized for promoting multiple far-left concepts in the world of business, has seen its stock downgraded due to ongoing backlash.

According to The Daily Wire, UBS analyst Brennan Hawken downgraded the company last week due to its support for Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies. The target stock price was reduced from $700 to just $585, resulting in a one percent drop in BlackRock shares on Tuesday.

“We are downgrading BLK to Neutral based on environmental pressure to earnings and risk from the firm’s ESG positioning,” Hawken said in a statement, noting that the company could see a further loss of business and greater regulatory scrutiny if it does not change its course.