And it’s a touch ironic that it’s UBS that downgraded BlackRock, given that the former also is a target of Republicans.
The Texas comptroller has included UBS on a list of financial firms who he says “boycott” the fossil-fuels industry, the main culprit behind the climate crisis. As a result, UBS was left out of the group poised to help arrange the state’s largest municipal-bond transaction.
As firms led by BlackRock face increasing criticism from America’s right wing, they’re also hearing claims of greenwashing from progressives.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander wrote in September to BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, saying the Big Apple was “ re-assessing” its business with the firm because it isn’t doing enough to push corporations to do more to combat global warming.
Indeed, Fink has sought to mollify Republicans calling for him to abandon sustainable investing by saying he isn’t anti-Big Oil. BlackRock—for all its ESG talk—has about $170 billion invested in publicly traded US energy companies. And Fink noted in an Oct. 12 presentation that oil and gas companies are “going to be part of the solution” in the transition to clean energy.
Stuck in between Republicans and Democrats may have been the neighborhood Fink was shooting for when he wrote his famous ESG letter a few years ago. “I’m now being attacked equally by the left and the right,” he said recently, “so I’m doing something right, I hope.”
--With assistance from Silla Brush.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.