BlackRock privately soothes oil industry fears over its new green credentials
Emails have revealed the high-wire act performed by major banks and the world’s biggest asset manager, BlackRock, as they privately soothe oil industry concerns about their public support for greener investment.
In his annual letter to chief executives, BlackRock boss Larry Fink said that pursuing climate action policies was not about being “woke” but was about pursuing profits on behalf of clients.
The comments were widely seen as a signal that the asset manager, whose clients have entrusted $10tn to its care, would wield its investment clout to support greener ventures.
But emails – obtained via a freedom of information request by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the thinktank InfluenceMap – show that a regulator in oil-rich Texas left a meeting with BlackRock believing the company had undergone a change of heart.
After the meeting with BlackRock staff, on 7 January 2022, the chair of the Texas oil regulator, Wayne Christian, wrote to the company expressing his relief.
He said he had been concerned by the asset manager’s promotion of investments governed by environmental and social guidelines (ESG), which typically involve selling out of oil and gas stocks.
He said that it was “nice to hear that BlackRock didn’t mean – or no longer believes – many of the disagreeable things the company and … Mr Fink have said about the oil and gas industry”.
In an attached letter, Christian said BlackRock’s staff had referred to “media misrepresentations” about its environmental stance and had also declared themselves “supportive” of the oil and gas industry.
Replying to Christian, a BlackRock employee did not question his interpretation of the discussion but pointed to comments made by Fink, saying that “traditional” energy
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