West Virginia punishes financial institutes for alleged commitment to fighting climate change
West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore announced this week that the state would be placing five financial institutions on a restricted list that bars them from securing state banking contracts over what Moore describes as “boycotts of fossil fuel industries.”
The companies—BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo—ironically represent major players in the finance industry that have done very little to divest themselves from fossil fuel companies. Measures that would actually require Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs to meaningfully address climate change recently failed, while BlackRock actively fought back against accusations that it was divesting from fossil fuels earlier this year.
BlackRock’s statements came as the state of Texas considered dropping the firm from its pensions. In March, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar sent a letter demanding answers from BlackRock and 18 other financial institutions over concerns—which Hegar apparently shares with Moore—about firms not doing business with polluters.
Watching companies face the wrath of climate activists as shareholders fail to give a shit about climate change, while also being penalized by Big Oil-loving states terrified that their piece of the Big Oil pie may disappear, sure seems bizarre. Yet it shows just how meaningless both climate promises are from the finance sector and Republicans’ witch hunts against companies paying lip service to anyone concerned about the climate crisis.
Take, for instance, how Moore has responded to companies that even mention using environmental, social, and governance (ESG) frameworks to take into account the legitimate cost of doing business with polluters. “As state treasurer, I have a duty to act in the best interest of our state and its people,” Moore said on Thursday. “Any financial institution that has broad, sweeping policies that will harm our economy, tax base, and energy jobs has a clear conflict of interest in handling our tax dollars. If a financial institution doesn’t want to do business with our people, I don’t think we should give them our business, either.”
Not a single U.S.-based financial institution has fully divested itself from fossil fuels. All Moore wants is some reassurance that firms are still doing business with some of his favorite campaign donors like Marathon Petroleum and Dominion Energy. Moore was originally interested in also targeting Bancorp, but the company “demonstrated to the treasurer that it has eliminated policies against financing coal mining, coal power, and pipeline construction activities from its environmental and social risk policy,” according to a press release from Moore’s office.
It’s going to be a rough pill for the likes of Moore and the GOP to swallow when financial firms finally understand just how lucrative of a long-term plan it is to commit to divestment and turn toward more sustainable sectors. Until then, we’re stuck with these state-by-state tantrums that feel just as archaic as the fossilized plant life that makes up the oil and gas these lawmakers love.