West Virginia Adds More ESG-Promoting Banks To Restricted List
Concerns about the impact of “environmental, social and governance” policies implemented by major banks have fueled efforts by a number of states to sever contracts with institutions that pursue such controversial agendas.
Most recently, West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore added four more banks — Citibank, TD Bank, Northern Trust and HSBC Holdings — to a list of financial entities that are disqualified from state contracts. Similar restrictions were already in place against BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.
Specifically, ESG efforts to boycott fossil fuels was at the root of Moore’s latest move, though he noted that two banks — BMO Bank and Fifth Third Bank — responded to pressure from his office to repeal those policies and thus avoided being placed on the restricted list.
“At the end of the day, this is how we win,” Moore said. “Trying to get banks to act like banks, keeping the market free.”
As for the two banks that agreed to roll back their respective ESG agendas, Moore added: “I applaud both of these institutions for working with us in a cooperative way to ensure the free market remains free and our state’s critical industries are treated fairly.”
The state treasurer has indicated that he hopes other states will follow his lead by cutting off banks with ESG policies in place.
“That’s certainly, I think, a tremendous loss for them,” he said during a recent interview. “We really kicked off this coalition effort around this, so there are going to be other states looking at what we have done. And I would not be surprised in the future if you did see some of these institutions end up on other lists.”
Author and climate change skeptic Steve Milloy touted the latest move, writing on social media: “Kudos to West Virginia Treasurer [Riley Moore] for protecting West Virginia from the illegal ESG cartel.”
Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of West Virginia.
We’ve offered woke financial institutions a choice: you can boycott fossil fuels, or you can do business with our state, but you can’t do both.
We aren’t taking these attacks on our livelihoods lying down.https://t.co/P5Pxd91m7e
— Riley Moore (@RileyMooreWV) April 8, 2024
Some other states have taken similar, if less robust, actions against institutions like investment management company BlackRock, including Mississippi, where Secretary of State Michael Watson recently denounced the firm’s “fraudulent statements, omissions, and other misrepresentations” regarding its ESG strategies.
For the same reason, Texas Board of Education Chairman Aaron Kinsey recently rescinded roughly $8.5 billion that had been invested in BlackRock.