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Missouri has pulled $500 million in state pension funds managed by New York-based financial institution BlackRock over the company’s environmental and social priorities.
Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick announced Tuesday morning in a statement first provided to FOX Business that the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System (MOSERS), of which he is a member, sold all public equities managed by BlackRock. With the announcement, Missouri joins a growing list of Republican-led states who have quit BlackRock and other banks over their environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.
“This is the right thing to do for Missouri state employees who rely on the assets managed by MOSERS for their retirement,” Fitzpatrick told FOX Business. “Fiduciary duty must remain the top priority for investment managers—a duty some of them have abdicated in favor of forcing a left wing social and political agenda that has failed to succeed legislatively, on publicly traded companies.”
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Republican states and groups like the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), [are fighting the] ESG movement, arguing it is anti-democratic and harms taxpayers by pushing investments that don’t result in maximum earnings for consumers.
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The SFOF has successfully organized a coalition of state treasurers over the last several months to leverage their pension plans and state investments to block banks from pursuing an ESG agenda. West Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Florida, South Carolina, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arkansas and North Dakota have all pushed back against the ESG movement.
For the full story at Fox Business, click here.
Thomas Catenacci writes about energy and environment news for FOX Business and Fox News Digital.
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