BlackRock CEO Larry Fink No Longer Uses 'ESG,' Laments Term 'Weaponized'

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Sunday he no longer uses the term “ESG” when talking of investing, lamenting it has become politicized.

Fink spoke at the Aspen Ideas Festival, announcing the term Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is now past, arguing it has been “politically weaponized” and he is “ashamed’ to be part of the debate.

“When I write these [investment] letters, it was never meant to be a political statement. … They were written to identify long-term issues to our long-term investors,” he said.

However, when pressed on his statement, he backtracked, saying, “I never said I was ashamed. I’m not ashamed. I do believe in conscientious capitalism.”

Fink said ESG has been “misused” by the far left and the far right.

He continued, “we talk a lot about decarbonization, we talk a lot about governance … or social issues, if that’s something we need to address.”

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, which handles more than $9 trillion.

BlackRock and CEO Larry Fink have been leading the way on ESG investing, which has become the latest vector through which large financial institutions can push publicly listed companies to adopt positions such as boosting diversity, increasing climate change programs, promoting racial justice, and other leftist positions.

During a 2017 New York Times DealBook conference, Fink said that BlackRock is “forcing behaviors” to boost diversity. The video recently went viral.

WATCH: Tom Cotton — We Need to Investigate ESG ‘Climate Cartel’ ‘Contributing to $5 a Gallon Gas’

“You have to force behaviors,” Fink said. “If you don’t force behaviors, whether it’s gender or race, or just anyway you want to say the composition of your team, you’re going to be impacted,” Fink remarked.

A BlackRock spokesperson defended Fink’s statements, telling Breitbart News in a written statement:

This nearly six-year-old clip misconstruing Larry’s words about BlackRock’s own approach to its employees has been circulating for years on social media and is often taken out of context. As a fiduciary, BlackRock’s actions serve one purpose: maximizing long-term financial value for our clients. As an employer, BlackRock seeks to hire employees from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives because we believe this diversity is critical to delivering for our clients in a rapidly changing world.

Breitbart News has discussed just a few of the ways BlackRock has leveraged its significant positions in publicly listed companies to back leftist positions. These include:

• In April 2021, BlackRock, which owns 7.5 percent of Abbott Labs, pushed the company to publish a report to disclose the company’s plan to promote racial justice. BlackRock pushed for the move against the wishes of Abbott’s leadership.
  • In a comment about its vote for the proposal, BlackRock commented, “We recognize the Company’s efforts to date, but believe that supporting the proposal may accelerate company’s progress on material social issues.”
• In May 2021, BlackRock urged United Parcel Services (UPS), of which Blackrock owns 7.3 percent, to issue a report on how the company plans to reduce emissions in alignment with the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and making “efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
• BlackRock voted for this proposal, commenting, “We are supportive of the company’s efforts to date with respect to this material climate issue but believe that voting in favor may accelerate the company’s progress.”
• In May 2022, Blackrock, which owns 6.8 percent of Home Depot, pushed the company to adopt a shareholder proposal to “oversee an independent racial equity audit analyzing Home Depot’s adverse impacts on nonwhite stakeholders and communities of color. Input from civil rights organizations, employees, and customers should be considered in determining the specific matters to be analyzed.”
  • BlackRock commented, “We believe it is in the best interests of shareholders to have access to greater disclosure on this issue.”

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said that the company should be “dealt with accordingly” for engaging in “illegal and immoral conduct.”