How Wall Street Turned Its Back on Climate Change
The New York Times • • business
Key Points:
- In January 2020, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, announced plans to leverage the firm's trillions in assets to combat global warming, urging a fundamental reshaping of finance to address climate change.
- Fink's call sparked a wave of commitments from major financial institutions to reduce emissions, support clean energy, and adopt environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles in investing.
- However, six years later, many Wall Street firms have scaled back or abandoned these climate commitments, with key alliances like the Net-Zero Banking Alliance losing momentum.
- Investors have increasingly withdrawn tens of billions of dollars each quarter from ESG-focused funds, signaling waning enthusiasm for these initiatives.
