Consumers’ Research Executive Director William Hild is questioning BlackRock's wildly different attitudes toward fossil fuel investments in the U.S. and China, saying the company's strategy stands to harm American consumers.
Hild told The Hill that BlackRock was able to put “three radical environmentalists” on Exxon’s board last year, a move he projects will lead not only to higher gas prices in the U.S. but also may end up benefiting Chinese firms.
“(The) Wall Street Journal reported that because of that election, Exxon is considering divesting itself of two of their largest oil projects, one in Mozambique and one in Vietnam," Hild said in a YouTube video posted by The Hill. "Domestically, he's taking companies like Exxon that should be focused on their customers and forcing them to be focused on (BlackRock CEO) Larry Fink's personal politics. In China, he's pouring billions into the development of their economy. And I mentioned PetroChina... that is probably the No.1 company that will be looking to bid on those projects in Mozambique and Vietnam."
The Wall Street Journal reported that in 2018 ExxonMobil's mission was "being the world’s premier petroleum and petrochemical company,” along with making money for stakeholders.
BlackRock is Exxon's second-largest stakeholder, according to WSJ Opinion, and was pivotal in getting the three environmentalists on the company’s board of directors with the oil company’s new goal set at diminishing carbon emissions and going after green energy.
“Many savvy governance observers were paying close attention to how Exxon’s top three investors — Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street, in that order — voted,” a Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance article stated, according to WSJ. “The Big Three, which own roughly 20% of the S&P 500’s outstanding shares, had made significant climate commitments over the past several years.”
Before the board election, Exxon was poised to enhance oil output by 25% within five years and has now altered its strategy to have output of oil at its lowest point in over 20 years and a goal of net-zero by 2050, according to WSJ Opinion.
“Every company and every industry will be transformed by the transition to a net-zero world. The question is, will you lead, or will you be led? Will you go the way of the dodo, or will you be a phoenix?” Fink asked in reference to concerns that BlackRock is imposing its moral compass on other companies.
Hild said in the YouTube video that Fink’s actions “are betraying the American consumer. At the same time, he’s not doing anything like that to the Chinese Communist Party. They’re invested in PetroChina there and don’t mess with any of their assets.”
The emerging economic power China isn’t following suit, Hild added.
“They’re putting out dozens of coal power plants a year. They certainly don’t have a problem with investing in known energy sources, so that their populists can turn the lights on reliably without ever-higher energy costs, and Larry Fink isn’t doing anything about that," Hild said in the YouTube video.