Everybody off the Net Zero/ESG boat!

It sure looks like it's sinking, and the biggest rats afloat have been the first to jump off.

Here I thought all these big banks were totally dedicated to a planet and climate on its last legs. You know, as in "Time is running out if we don't [insert insane restrictions/mandates here] right this second, so SUCK IT UP, PEASANTS!"

It does beggar the imagination that we've either managed to fix it all before we truly started destroying the Western world's standard of living permanently or that schmaybe, just schmaybe...stick with me here...it was all unicorn farts and cult-driven grift, to begin with.

Hmmmmm

Let's look back and see what started this rush right past the lifeboats to leaping off the bow, shall we?

In November of 2023, the Wall Street Journal noticed an interesting phenomenon starting quietly under the radar. Terms that had become ubiquitous and, frankly, terrifying to people who rely on end-product financing from mega firms - like farmers, for instance - or annoying to large investors (such as state retirement funds), started quietly disappearing. Once the darling of the virtue signaling set and Thor's hammer of woke cancel culture, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) guiding principles started vaporizing at the same time ESG fund profits did. 

How curious.

Wall Street rushed to embrace sustainable investing just a few years ago. Now it is quietly closing funds or scrubbing their names after disappointing returns that have investors cashing out billions.

The about-face comes after tightened regulatory oversight, higher interest rates that have slammed clean-energy stocks and a backlash that has made environmental, social and corporate-governance investing a political target.

“This really is the result of too many managers looking to cash in on increased awareness and demand for ESG investments,” said Tony Turisch, senior vice president at Calamos Investments. 

The third quarter was the first time more sustainable funds liquidated or removed ESG criteria from their investment practices than were added, according to Morningstar. That is a reversal from not that long ago, when companies were rebranding faltering funds to cash in on the billions of dollars flowing into sustainable investment products.

The flight from fantasy continued in February of last year when I wrote about JP Morgan starting a parade of big money exiting something called the 'Climate Action 100+' group. Yet another cozy climate cult cabal of bazillion-dollar hedge funds and banks gathered to dictate their vision of how your life and country should be run was blowing apart.

...I got a screenshot of their home page because the above numbers are going to have to be adjusted as of yesterday. In a further sign that the nuts of NetZero are being cracked and discarded, there was some pretty stunning news about the 900-pound, ESG-happy investment thugs who populate this club.

A bunch of them quit, one after the other, and man. Did they take a buttload of money with them when they walked out.

The first pair of shoes out the door belonged to Jamie Dimon's JP Morgan. They're taking $3T+ with them as they exit, saying they can handle the business of global warming solutions just fine on their own, thank you.

These dedicated and devoted saviors of Gaia turned out to be more devoted to saving their behinds, particularly when reminded of their fiduciary duty to their clients, whatever their social justice warrior windmill jousting inclinations.

Tennessee started it, and Florida's Ron DeSantis helped pile on.

...The one state chief executive who really did the most to get the move on state funds out of ESG guided firms was Ron DeSantis. He and the Florida legislature pulled over $2B worth of state funds out of BlackRock’s investment hands.

Since, there’s been a total of more than $6B in red states’ pension funds pulled out of BlackRock’s management coffers. That’s a hit in anyone’s book.

The firms were further buffeted by a nasty set of lawsuits filed by ten Republican state attorneys general this past November. If their little ESG Green goals meant using their financial muscle in pursuit of saving the planet, and that the resultant pressure drove utility prices up for consumers in those states, the AGs were suing for damages, and holding the firms accountable via anti-trust action. 

BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard have been sued by Texas and 10 other Republican-led states, which said the large asset managers violated antitrust law through climate activism that resulted in reduced coal production and boosted energy prices.

Wednesday’s complaint filed in the federal court in Tyler, Texas, is among the highest profile lawsuits targeting efforts to promote environmental, social and governance goals, or ESG.

The defendants were accused of exploiting their market power and involvement in climate advocacy groups to pressure coal companies to slash output and reduce carbon emissions from coal by more than 50% by 2030, driving up consumers’ utility bills.

THAT'LL LEAVE A MARK

All that retreat, all that incoming fire, and Trump hadn't even been reelected yet.

The times were a-changin', yo, and then the improbable did happen. Trump took it.

Something called the 'Net-Zero Banking Alliance' is consequently taking it in the shorts.

The Alliance, which began in 2021 with the UN-backed, lofty dystopian goal of aligning "lending, investment, and capital markets activities with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050"  (translates to 'dictating every facet of your life'), has been falling apart in big chunks all through December.

Morgan Stanley, Citi group and Bank of America this week withdrew from an ambitious pandemic-era climate coalition designed to help drive a shift to reduce carbon emissions by businesses. That followed withdrawals over the past month by Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs from the United Nations-backed coalition, known as the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. 

...The recent exodus from the coalition reflects a broad pullback by companies ahead of the second Trump administration from environmental, social and corporate-governance initiatives. They became a craze on Wall Street years ago but have since been maligned by conservative groups. President-elect Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and is expected to roll back related regulations.

Every big American bank firm made the proper noises about achieving their goals and maintaining their commitment to the climate cult going forward. But they all still left the Alliance except 500 lb gorilla banking behemoth JP Morgan. 

Not to despair, though. 

They left today, sending shockwaves through the movement as JP Morgan's exit means the six largest banks in the world's economy have "all left the group in the space of a month."

...Let's be honest, Net-Zero makes zero sense when it comes to practical business operations and ensuring energy security. Our Financial Officers have been at the forefront, pushing back against these flawed initiatives and will continue to be the beacon for economic freedom, ensuring that business decisions are grounded in reality rather than radical ideologies.

It doesn't sound as if JP Morgan will be the last big clown shoe to fall on the Alliance's head, either.

The world's largest investment fund, one of the firms in the state AGs lawsuits, is having second thoughts about being the only big woke target left in the clubhouse.

Looks like Larry Fink has 'adios' on his mind.

BlackRock — which for years has courted controversy with its focus on so-called ESG, or Environmental Social Governance investing — is considering an exit of the so-called “Net Zero” coalition of top corporations who pledge to reach zero-carbon emissions by 2050, The Post has learned.

The investment giant led by billionaire CEO Larry Fink is poised for a pivot from dictates of the United Nations-sponsored “Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative” as pressure grows on big corporations to reverse their woke business agendas. It comes as others have announced plans to leave a sister UN coalition for mega banks. In recent days, the nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, plus Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, said they are dropping their membership from the UN climate coalition. 

BlackRock’s likely departure is more significant. The world’s largest investment fund, with more than $10 trillion in assets under management, was a leader in ESG investing, with its top executives including Fink evangelizing on the need to use the company’s investing might to force corporations to reduce their carbon footprint. A political backslash recently forced Fink and BlackRock to reverse course on ESG and now other big ESG asset managers are doing so as well.

In the Alliance, there are now something like only 80 European banks left. Lord knows, the EU would probably sanction them for leaving.

There are a couple of really good threads on causalities for this retreat (which you can read in their entirety if you are on X), and the two have one thing in common.

One is here:

They both make the point that while the AG lawsuits were a huge influence on the decision for these firms to withdraw, the fact is that the general public has woken up to both the scam that is Net Zero itself and is firmly rejecting the inherent exorbitant costs across the board and the subsequent lowering of the standard of living to transition to it.

The public is saying 'no.'

These firms can no longer operate under the faux-righteous cover of 'saving' anything.

The authoritarian grift jig is up.