Alignment: CEO Larry Fink’s annual letters made BlackRock the most visible Wall Street proponent of ESG and “stakeholder capitalism”; Texas and other Republican-led states blacklisted BlackRock over its ESG stance and pulled billions in pension assets; BlackRock subsequently softened its public ESG posture and was removed from Texas’s blacklist in 2025.
Summary
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, became the corporate face of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing through CEO Larry Fink’s annual public letters. In response, Texas and other Republican-led states placed BlackRock on a divestment blacklist and pulled significant pension assets — including $8.5 billion from the Texas Permanent School Fund in 2024. BlackRock subsequently softened its ESG positioning, and Texas removed BlackRock from its blacklist in June 2025.
Claims & Sources
Claim 1: Texas pulled $8.5 billion from BlackRock over ESG policies.
Sources: Reuters — Texas schools fund pulls $8.5 billion from BlackRock over ESG policies; Fox Business — Texas pulls $8.5B from BlackRock in blow to ESG.
Claim 2: Texas removed BlackRock from its investment blacklist in June 2025 after the firm rolled back ESG policies.
Source: New York Post — BlackRock removed from Texas investment blacklist.
DEI hiring goals & quotas (heavy-weighted criterion): BlackRock continues to publish race- and gender-based workforce representation goals and uses its proxy-voting power to pressure portfolio companies to add directors based on race and gender, a policy CEO Larry Fink has continued to defend through 2024.
Source: Reuters — BlackRock to back fewer shareholder resolutions this AGM season
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