For the last few decades, a movement to “go green” has been afoot, garnering all sorts of support. But last week, several financial giants decided that their money no longer needed to move in that direction – to the tune of about $14 trillion.
Yes, you read that correctly, a whopping $14 trillion, with a “tr.”
In an announcement last week, leading investment firm JP Morgan State Street decided to pull their funding of Climate Action 100+, one of the world’s largest coalitions, based on spreading the green movement.
According to the coalition, their goal is to use “environmental, social, and corporate governance” metrics, aka ESG, to decide what money goes where in the investment world. And for a while, JP Morgan and State Street, along with BlackRock, have been committed to that cause, or at least paying into it.
However, the green coalition, as it is prone to do, made an announcement last year that these financial giants couldn’t agree to. apparently, Climate Action + wanted its members to “disclose more details about their investment decisions.” Basically, it was a tightening of the reins, an attempt to make them even more compliant with the green movement.
But as those such as JP Morgan and State Street claim, the new rule would threaten their “fiduciary duties,” or their ability to invest based on the interests of their investors, according to The Washington Times.
At the same time, the world’s largest investment manager, BlackRock, has transferred its membership in Climate Action 100+ to its international sector. Together, the losses for the coalition add up to around $14 trillion, which is nothing to ignore.
Now, of course, this doesn’t exactly make those like BlackRock, JP Morgan, or State Street one of the good guys. After all, they still paid into the green movement and were OK with all that went on for as long as it benefited them.
However, it’s still a move in the right direction.
