Larry Fink's Fake ESG Facade Crumbles As Blackrock Names Aramco CEO To Its Board

Independent News:

Three weeks ago, at the Aspen Ideas Festival, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink revealed that he had abandoned the term "ESG" (every virtue signaler's beloved "environment, social, and governance" acronym) because it has been highly politicized and even "weaponized," and he is "ashamed" to be part of the debate.

Many applauded the decision, which they viewed as actually representative of the truth: after all, Fink acknowledged at the event that Ron DeSantis' decision to yank $2 billion in assets from the world's largest money manager in late 2022 over "woke" policies hurt his firm. DeSantis of course, is not alone: lawmakers from red states have retaliated and called out BlackRock for its toxic woke capitalism push in corporate America. Besides Florida, states like Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, Arkansas, West Virginia, Missouri, and Texas have withdrawn funds from the asset manager which previously said it would not longer invest in "fossil fuels" and other causes that were unworthy of ESG's consummate virtue signaling.

Fast forward to today when we learn that Blackrock named the boss of Saudi Aramo, Amin Nasser, as the fund's independent director.

Amin Nasser

Yes, the same Saudi Arabia whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman dismembered WaPo's Jamal Khashoggi without prejudice, a move which not only led to a chilling collapse in US-Saudi relations which has lasted to this day (as Saudi Arabia openly mocks Biden's demands for increased oil production) but which also leaves quite a bit to be desired on the "social" vertical of the ESG religion; and yes, the same Saudi Arabia which also happens to be the world's largest producer of oil, and whose "Environmental" rank may leave just a little to be desired, especially to idiots such as these.

But not to Blackrock, and consummate WEG globalist Larry Fink, who after years of hiding behind the ESG smokescreen if and when it was convenient to convince the peasants just what a lovable, cuddly $10 trillion money manager Blackrock actually is, finally revealed that it was all just one giant lie, and its so-called ESG standards were nothing more than a joke.

Nasser has led the world’s biggest oil producer since 2015, including overseeing its public listing, and provides BlackRock with “a unique perspective” on key issues facing the company and its clients, CEO Larry Fink said Monday in an emailed statement.

“His leadership experience, understanding of the global energy industry and the drivers of the shift toward a low-carbon economy, as well as his knowledge of the Middle East region, will all contribute meaningfully to the BlackRock board dialogue,” Fink said in the statement.

Not that we have anything against Nasser: unlike Fink, he never pretended to be something he never was. Nasser joined Saudi Arabia's state oil giant as a petroleum engineer in 1982, and decades later having worked his way up from the ground floor, led Aramco's initial public offering in 2019.

His expertise in the Middle East will fill the gap left by Bader Alsaad, chairman of the board of the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development, who is not standing for reelection on BlackRock's board in 2024, the asset manager said on Monday.

BlackRock - which will henceforth be the butt of every anti-ESG joke, if the concept of ESG even exists for any other purpose than manipulating mentally-challenged idiots into believing random propaganda...

... has sought to strike a balance on the issue of climate change, continuing to invest in fossil fuel companies, while nudging them to adopt energy transition plans.  In a note to clients earlier this month, the asset manager estimated its average annual investment in the energy system would jump to $4 trillion through 2050, up from $2.2 trillion in recent years.

BlackRock, which had about $9.4 trillion assets under management as of end-June, has projected that by 2030 at least three quarters of its investments will be with issuers of securities that have scientific targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions on a net basis.

Spoiler alert: that will not happen, and instead - as today's "shocking" appointment reveals - BlackRock will soon reveal that while it was pushing others to live in virtuous misery, it was gradually preparing for the next fossil-fuel revolution. And none other than Nasser will be there to make that revelation.

While Aramco, which like BlackRock has tiptoped the virtue signaling line for the benefit of a handful of globalist idiots, and unveiled a $1.5 billion sustainability fund to focus on areas including carbon capture and storage, greenhouse gas emissions, as well as hydrogen, the reality is that as Nasser said the current global energy transition plan was flawed.

In February Nasser - who also serves on several boards, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Presidential CEO Advisory Board and the JP Morgan International Council - went so far as to warn that an increased focus on ESG was undermining investment in oil and gas to the point where it posed a threat to the world’s energy security.

"We need to realize that today alternatives are not ready to shoulder a heavy load of the growing energy demand and therefore we need to work in parallel until alternatives are ready."

The message from Blackrock is simple: "all that shit we said about ESG? Well, we still mean it... but over the next 30 years we will be investing in all those companies we told you to boycott and avoid. And if you believed us... well, you're the idiots."

(Article by Tyler Durden republished from ZeroHedge.com)


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