House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan is targeting massive companies in his committee’s latest investigation, including BlackRock and Vanguard. Jordan & Co. plan to probe their ESG practices.
They could be violating federal antitrust laws.
Jordan sent letters to heads of BlackRock, Vanguard, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), and State Street.
The Daily Caller got the exclusive:
In all of the letters, the lawmakers say the companies appear to have potentially violated U.S. antitrust law by coordinating and entering into collusive agreements to “decarbonize” assets under management and reduce emissions to net zero.
GFANZ “is the world’s largest coalition of financial institutions committed to” net zero, and it “(c)oordinate(s) commitments and actions across the sector.” Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) is a sector-specific group within GFANZ that supports net zero goals and has more than 300 asset manager members, as well as over $59 trillion in assets under its management.
BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard are three of the world’s largest asset managers. BlackRock and State Street are members of both NZAM and a company named Climate Action 100+. Vanguard was also a member of NZAM until December 2022. Lawmakers say these companies appear to have colluded “to reach net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner across all assets under management.”
Reaching net zero emissions would severely harm the coal, gas and oil industries as many are trying to phase out gas-powered vehicles and coal and oil power plants.
“We write because BlackRock, Inc. (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,” Jordan and his fellow lawmakers wrote in one of the letters. “Accordingly, to advance our oversight and inform potential legislative reforms, we write to ask BlackRock to produce relevant documents and information.”
The companies have two weeks to “produce the requested information to the lawmakers.”
More over at The Daily Caller:
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨 from @henryrodgersdc @Jim_Jordan, House Republicans Launch Investigation Into Blackrock, Vanguard, Others Over Woke ESG Practiceshttps://t.co/qYUtYBhVsn
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 6, 2023