{"id":2009190,"date":"2023-08-23T11:29:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:29:01","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-08-23T11:32:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:32:21","slug":"blackrock-eases-support-for-esg-shareholder-proposals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blackrock-eases-support-for-esg-shareholder-proposals\/","title":{"rendered":"BlackRock relaxes backing for ESG shareholder proposals."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblackrock-eases-support-for-esg-shareholder-proposals%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2009190&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>BlackRock Backs Away from Supporting Shareholder Proposals on ESG<\/h2>\n<p>BlackRock, the world&#8217;s largest \u2063money manager, is shifting its \u2062stance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/corporate-americas-sharp-left-turn-prompts-unprecedented-backlash\/\" title=\"Corporate America\u2019s Sharp Left Turn Prompts Unprecedented Backlash\">shareholder proposals<\/a>\u2064 that focus on \u2064environmental and social themes. This move \u200dsuggests that \u200bthe Republican pressure \u200ccampaign against \u2062ESG regulations \u200bmay be gaining traction.<\/p>\n<p>In its annual report, BlackRock revealed that it\u200c supported only 7%\u200d of\u200c nearly 400 shareholder proposals related to environmental \u200band social matters. This marks\u2063 a significant decline from\u200b previous years, where the firm backed nearly\u2062 a quarter and 47% of\u200d such proposals in \u2063the previous cycles.<\/p>\n<h3>Republican Debate: Can the Debates Help Winnow\u2063 the GOP Field?<\/h3>\n<p>The report emphasized BlackRock&#8217;s commitment to maximizing shareholder value,\u200c addressing criticisms\u200c that the firm has\u200d strayed from its fiduciary duty by\u2062 embracing ESG. According to the report,\u200d many\u2064 proposals\u2062 were deemed over-reaching,\u2062 lacking economic merit, or redundant, making them unlikely to \u200cpromote long-term shareholder value.<\/p>\n<p>BlackRock acknowledges that \u200c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blackrock-eases-support-for-esg-shareholder-proposals\/\" title=\"BlackRock relaxes backing for ESG shareholder proposals.\">measuring stewardship solely based<\/a> on votes for or against proposals oversimplifies the complex considerations involved \u2064in voting decisions. The company believes that proxy\u200b votes \u200ccannot fully reflect\u200c the multitude of factors taken into \u2062account, including company disclosures and engagements with company leadership.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative media figures have targeted BlackRock as a symbol of the ESG movement, given its massive size. Recently,\u200c Republican financial officers from 15 states sent a\u2064 letter to the firm, \u200cquestioning \u2063BlackRock&#8217;s efforts to \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-debate-future-infrastructure-bills\/\" title=\"Lawmakers debate future infrastructure bills\">address climate change<\/a> and integrate \u2064ESG standards. They demanded answers regarding \u200bany potential conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, BlackRock&#8217;s ties to China have come under bipartisan federal\u200c scrutiny. The House Select\u2063 Committee on the Chinese Communist Party announced an investigation into\u2064 BlackRock and\u2063 index provider MSCI.<\/p>\n<p>In response \u200bto the backlash against ESG investing, BlackRock executives highlighted a pilot program in an op-ed in\u200d the\u2064 Wall Street Journal. The \u200bprogram allows individual investors to\u2063 decide how their share of \u200cBlackRock&#8217;s largest \u200bexchange-traded fund \u200cwill vote on the companies they own.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, BlackRock CEO Larry \u2064Fink&#8217;s annual letter this year did not mention ESG and \u2063downplayed discussions about the climate. Fink stated that \u2063companies are not &#8220;the environmental police,&#8221; signaling a shift in \u2064tone as GOP pushback intensifies.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When \u200dI write\u200b these investment letters, it was never meant \u200dto be a \u2064political statement. They were written\u200d to\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blackrocks-larry-fink-says-he-is-done-using-term-esg-amid-growing-backlash\/\" title=\"BlackRock's Larry Fink ditches 'ESG' term due to backlash.\">identify long-term issues<\/a> to\u2064 our\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bond-market-swinging-between-rallies-routs\/\" title=\"Bond Market Swinging Between Rallies, Routs\">long-term investors<\/a>,&#8221; Fink clarified in the letter.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click here<\/a> to read more from The Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BlackRock, the world&#8217;s largest money manager, is stepping back from endorsing shareholder proposals focused on environmental and social issues. This move suggests that the GOP&#8217;s efforts to challenge ESG regulations are gaining traction. Despite being a strong advocate for ESG investing, BlackRock is now facing resistance from Republicans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2009191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2009190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2009190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2009191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2009190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2009190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2009190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}