The world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, is pushing back on Texas' decision to withdraw roughly $8.5 billion in assets belonging to the Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF) over what the state says is a boycott of energy companies.

Texas State Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey on Tuesday announced that the PSF would withdraw funds to comply with a 2021 state law that seeks to prevent the state's public funds from being managed by financial institutions that boycott the oil and gas sector. Kinsey said that "BlackRock's destructive approach toward the energy companies that this state and our world depend on is incompatible with our fiduciary duty to Texans."

BlackRock Vice Chairman Mark McCombe responded to Kinsey in a letter reviewed by FOX Business in which he wrote that the firm was "dismayed by your announcement" and said the decision puts "short-term politics over your long-term fiduciary responsibilities."