{"id":943720,"date":"2023-01-04T00:35:17","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T00:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/blackrock"},"modified":"2023-01-04T00:35:17","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T00:35:17","slug":"kentuckys-gop-treasurer-falsely-claims-big-banks-are-boycotting-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/01\/04\/kentuckys-gop-treasurer-falsely-claims-big-banks-are-boycotting-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky&#8217;s GOP Treasurer Falsely Claims Big Banks Are Boycotting Fossil Fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<img src=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/media-library\/kentucky-treasurer-allison-ball.jpg?id=32624432&width=1245&height=700&coordinates=0%2C235%2C0%2C245\"\/><br\/><br\/><p>Kentucky's Republican treasurer on Tuesday threatened to divest from  11 financial institutions\u2014including major fossil fuel investors\u2014that she falsely claimed were \"engaged in energy company boycotts\" in violation of commonwealth law. <br\/><\/p><p>\"When companies boycott fossil fuels, they intentionally choke off the lifeblood of capital to Kentucky's signature industries,\" Treasurer Allison Ball said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kentucky.gov\/Pages\/Activity-stream.aspx?n=KentuckyStateTreasurer&prId=101\" >statement<\/a>. \"Traditional energy sources fuel our Kentucky economy, provide much-needed jobs, and warm our homes. Kentucky must not allow our signature industries to be irreparably damaged based upon the ideological whims of a select few.\"<\/p><p>In the same statement, Ball's office said that \"all listed financial companies must stop engaging in the energy company boycott to avoid becoming subject to divestment.\"<br\/><\/p><p>Last year, Kentucky's Republican-dominated Legislature passed, and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wkms.org\/environment\/2022-04-11\/as-scientists-call-for-urgent-action-ky-lawmakers-see-a-cult-of-climate-change\" >signed into law<\/a>, S.B. 205, which takes aim at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techtarget.com\/whatis\/definition\/environmental-social-and-governance-ESG\" >environmental, social, and governance<\/a> (ESG) investing, a set of criteria that include companies' policies for addressing the climate emergency. <\/p><p>Republicans have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/2022\/12\/19\/what-are-esg-investments-businesses\/10898841002\/\" >derided<\/a> ESG as \"woke\" investing. Numerous GOP-led states have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/10\/05\/why-the-esg-vs-gop-war-over-climate-change-is-going-nowhere.html\" >divested<\/a> billions of dollars from targeted investment firms\u2014even when doing so harms them financially.<\/p><p>Ball's list includes BlackRock\u2014one of the world's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2020\/05\/21\/climate-protesters-call-out-hot-air-financial-giant-during-blackrock-annual-meeting\" >largest investors <\/a>in fossil fuels and deforestation\u2014as well as institutions such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, which also rank among the top fossil fuel industry financiers, according to <em>Bloomberg<\/em>. Climate campaigners have criticized many of the financial institutions on Ball's list for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/newswire\/2022\/11\/02\/leaders-or-laggards-report-analyzes-net-zero-pledges-us-banks\" >failing to meet <\/a>even the modest climate goals they've set for themselves.<\/p><blockquote class=\"rm-embed twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"rebelmouse\" data-twitter-tweet-id=\"1610324965596725251\">\n<div style=\"margin:1em 0\">\\u201cToday I am releasing my office\\u2019s first list of financial companies that boycott energy companies. 11 institutions are listed. These institutions are subject to divestment by state governmental entities for boycotting energy companies. \\n\\nRead more here: https:\/\/t.co\/OlQe4pfSMj\\u201d<\/div> \u2014 Treasurer Ball (@Treasurer Ball)\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KYTreasurer\/status\/1610324965596725251\">1672766364<\/a>\n<\/blockquote>\n<script async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script>\n<p>\"The fact is that we are among the largest financers of the U.S. traditional and renewable energy industries, including in Kentucky, where we serve some of its largest energy companies and utilities,\" JPMorgan Chase spokesperson Trish Wexler <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-01-03\/kentucky-lists-blackrock-citi-and-others-as-energy-boycotters?leadSource=uverify%20wall\" >told<\/a> <em>Bloomberg<\/em>. \"We believe our business practices are in line with Kentucky law, and we are hopeful a deeper look at these facts would lead to reconsideration.\"<\/p><p>BlackRock spokesperson Christopher Van Es told <em>Bloomberg<\/em> that \"on behalf of our clients, we have invested approximately $276 billion in energy companies globally. BlackRock does not boycott energy companies and will continue to be investors across the energy sector.\"<\/p><p>Ball's office gave state agencies 30 days to say whether they hold investments in any of the listed financial institutions, and 90 days to \"cease boycotting energy companies in order to avoid divestment.\"<\/p><p>\"Treasurer Ball has long been a national leader in the fight against harmful ESG schemes which hurt our economy, threaten our national security, and prioritize political goals above financial returns,\" the treasurer's office said. \"The compilation of this list is the latest in a series of her efforts to oppose this dangerous practice.\"<\/p>\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/blackrock\">Common Dreams<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kentucky&#8217;s Republican treasurer on Tuesday threatened to divest from  11 financial institutions\u2014including major fossil fuel investors\u2014that she falsely claimed were &#8220;engaged in energy company boycotts&#8221; in violation of commonwealth law. &#8220;When companies &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2436,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55788,1871,642,4603,21740,8300],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2436"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943720"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":943809,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943720\/revisions\/943809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}