West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore told Breitbart News on the first anniversary of his state divesting from BlackRock over its “net zero” policy push that the asset manager is “starting to hedge” and that the push against the policy movement is “having an effect.”

“It’s been really interesting. I couldn’t be happier with the direction that it is going. And you do see these financial institutions starting to hedge. BlackRock is starting to hedge. You see that happening, and it is having an effect,” Moore told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.

The interview occurred on Tuesday, the first anniversary of West Virginia’s move to become the first state to pull investment funds from places like BlackRock that embrace “net zero” investment strategies, which would ultimately hurt the state’s fossil fuel industry. Since then, Republican state treasurers and other lawmakers have begun pushing back against the “net zero” initiatives, which are one of the main components of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policy movement.

“The way that they are talking now is a lot different than they were talking a year ago… when I first divested from BlackRock last year. People didn’t quite get it, but I think they absolutely do now, and it’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of support from people all over the country in this effort that I started,” Moore said.

When he announced the state’s divestment, Moore said, people told him it would not make a difference because West Virginia is a “small state.”

“Look at where we are now,” he said.

“I think it’s certainly a tale and experience that I think any state-level elected official, what they can take from it, is just never give up. Don’t give up. You know… if you have conviction and principles, stand on them, and people rally to it, and I think that’s what we’ve seen happen here.”

Additionally, Moore responded to Larry Fink, BlackRock’s CEO, claiming that the criticism of ESG investing has become personal and that his critics — such as Moore — are trying to “demonize” the investment strategy he has championed by saying, “I think it’s very clear that he’s taking this personal because it is personal. This is his personal agenda that we’re pushing against. So I’m sure he started taking [this] personal.”

Moore also called out Fink for saying BlackRock is selling “hope” by saying, “this is the language of the globalist elite: ‘We provide hope with your money’… It’s just it’s so wrongheaded. It’s unbelievable.”

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.