Tennessee Sues BlackRock, Demands Transparency About Alleged Climate Activism

“We want BlackRock to let investors know how their money is going to be managed,” Tennessee State Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti stated.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink attends a session at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2020. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

For the first time, and in what may prove to be a precedent-setting case, a global asset manager is being sued for allegedly leveraging investors’ money to pursue political goals. 

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a lawsuit on Monday against BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager with approximately $9 trillion in assets under management, charging that the firm “has been on the forefront of using aggressive strategies to push controversial environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals across the assets it manages.”