Blog 3

Green, Washed Out: My Morning Inside the BlackRock ESG Backlash

Sneka | Published May 20, 2025

    Planet split between green sustainability and grey industry | © shutterstock.com

January 21st felt routine until the Financial Times alert: “BlackRock quits flagship climate group.” As ESG analyst, I was yanked into an emergency call with asset management clients who wanted to know if sustainability was suddenly passé.

Inside the incident

During the call, news broke that several US state treasurers had threatened to pull mandates over perceived “anti-fossil bias.” BlackRock’s retreat looked like appeasement. I spoke firsthand with a portfolio manager there who admitted staff morale dipped; analysts on the Sustainable Investing team felt their work was sidelined. Meanwhile, risk officers worried about reputational spill over to core ETFs.

Fallout for employees and management

Internally, the schism was stark. The sustainability desk saw years of climate scenario modelling questioned. Younger analysts, who’d joined for purpose as much as paycheck, voiced doubts about culture. Management walked a tightrope: reassure clients in oil heavy states while convincing European pension funds the ESG mission lived on. One director told me privately: “We’re playing 4 D chess with values and fees nobody’s happy.”

My reflection

Witnessing the pivot up close forced me to confront the fragility of corporate ethics under revenue pressure. Value aligned employees felt betrayed, proving culture is part of the asset base. As I closed my notebook, I wrote a single line: “Leadership is measured by the values you don’t trade.” The episode recalibrated my own compass—future due diligence memos will weigh culture as heavily as cash flow projections.

 

 

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