House Republicans Probe Wall Street’s ESG Pioneers Over Potential Antitrust Violations‘When companies agree to work together to … advance environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, this coordinated behavior may violate the antitrust laws,’ Republicans wrote.BY: TRISTAN JUSTICE
JULY 07, 2023
House Republicans are expanding their probe of major asset managers who are working to engineer a net-zero carbon emissions economy for potential violations of U.S. antitrust law.
On Thursday, lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee sent letters to BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAM), demanding records related to the firms’ coordination of their aggressive climate goals.
“[BlackRock] is potentially violating U.S. antitrust law by entering into agreements to ‘decarbonize’ its assets under management and reduce emissions to net zero — with potentially harmful effects on Americans’ freedom and economic well-being,” House Republicans wrote to the nation’s wealthiest asset management firm.
Vanguard and State Street join BlackRock among the top five largest financial firms in the country. Letters to each firm were signed by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina.
“BlackRock is a member of both Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM),” lawmakers wrote. “Through Climate Action 100+, BlackRock appears to have reached a collusive agreement with other institutional investors to ‘work with the companies in which [they] invest to … deliver[] net zero [greenhouse gas (GHG)] emissions by 2050.’”
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Source:
https://thefederalist.com/2023/07/07/house-republicans-probe-wall-streets-esg-pioneers-over-potential-antitrust-violations/
