by Nick Pope
Several of the largest asset managers in the U.S. are withdrawing from a major coalition of companies focused on advancing green investment strategies and climate-sensitive corporate management.
JPMorgan Asset Management (JMAM) and State Street Global Advisors will not be renewing membership in Climate Action 100+, a coalition of investors and asset managers with a combined $68 trillion under management that pushes corporations to reduce emissions and adopt climate risk disclosure practices, according to Financial Times. Climate Action 100+ and Ceres — a green shareholder activist group that co-founded the coalition — are currently under investigation by the House Judiciary Committee, which is alleging that the coalition’s advancement of progressive Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) policies may constitute non-competitive activity in violation of U.S. antitrust law.
JPMAM has about $3.1 trillion under management, according to Financial News, while State Street controls about $3.7 trillion in assets under management as of September 2023. Both firms joined Climate Action 100+ in 2020, and BlackRock is now the only top-five asset management company remaining as a member of Climate Action 100+.
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨 via @henryrodgersdc
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. @Jim_Jordan , @RepDanBishop Threaten Subpoena Of ESG ‘Cartel’
READ MORE: https://t.co/dz7QqWO1uc
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“Today’s decisions by JPMorgan and State Street are big wins for freedom and the American economy, and we hope more financial institutions follow suit in abandoning collusive ESG actions,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan wrote of the withdrawals in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter.
JPMAM has built up a team of about 40 professionals who specialize in sustainable investing, providing it the ability to pursue its own climate-oriented strategies, a JPMAM spokesperson told Financial News.
“Given these strengths and the evolution of its own stewardship capabilities, JPMAM has determined that it will no longer participate in Climate Action 100+ engagements,” the spokesperson told Financial News.
JPMAM and State Street are the latest major Western firms to drop out of climate-oriented corporate initiatives. Vanguard, another massive asset manager, withdrew from the Net Zero Asset Management initiative in 2022, while major insurers including Lloyd’s of London, Allianz and Axa all pulled out of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance in 2023, according to Reuters.
“After careful review, State Street Global Advisors has concluded the enhanced Climate Action 100+ Phase 2 requirements for signatories will not be consistent with our independent approach to proxy voting and portfolio company engagement,” a spokesperson for State Street told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As a result, we have decided to withdraw from Climate Action 100+.”
Climate Action 100+ does not comment on the circumstances surrounding individual departures from its ranks, a spokesperson told the DCNF.
JPMAM did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
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Nick Pope is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “JP Morgan Headquarters” by Can Pac Swire. CC BY-NC 2.0.
