Riley Moore and his favorite target

In January 2022, Institutional Investor reported that WV State Treasurer Riley Moore pulled all of the state’s investments from Blackrock ($1.25 million) as part of Moore’s attack upon investment firms that used ESG (environmental, societal, and governmental) investment strategies.

Moore’s announcement said:

“The decision was based on recent reports that BlackRock has urged companies to embrace ‘net zero’ investment strategies that would harm the coal, oil, and natural gas industries, while increasing investments in Chinese companies that subvert national interests and damage West Virginia’s manufacturing base and job market.”

Did WV’s pull out teach BlackRock a valuable lesson?

If my math is correct, WV’s withdrawal of funds worked out to be slightly over one ten-millionth of one percent of BlackRock’s working capital. Consequently, I have my doubts that BlackRock learned any lessons.

And since then? Candidate Moore, who constantly seeks media attention, has frequently used BlackRock (the largest of the investment firms) as his whipping boy despite having pulled funds from nine other firms. For example, here is Moore, earlier this week, with local WTRF:

He says one of his major focuses has been taking on finance giants like BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and others. He describes these companies as using taxpayer money to push left wing political causes, claiming they hinder the coal industry, through a process called “Environmental Social Governance,” or ESG.

So, Riley Moore tells us that BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm with over 10 trillion dollars of assets, is pushing liberal ideas. (Yeah, right.) I’m sorry, but the world’s largest capitalist corporation doesn’t give a damn about liberal causes; it exists for one reason -- to make money for its investors. And that it sometimes downplays fossil fuels has nothing to do with politics and everything to do what is obvious to most investors: the fossil fuel industry (especially coal) is dying and has little long-term future.

Some thoughts on ESG investing

One of my goals for retirement has been to make myself a more knowledgeable investor. Several years ago, I discovered the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings which were attached to a company in an attempt to assess how well that company met those criteria. My initial excitement about finding investments that didn’t harm the environment, cared about the society it was a part of, and practiced good governance was quickly tempered as I read more about the subject; some corporations were apparently finding unethical ways to improve their scores. On the environment, for example, companies would sometimes use a practice called “greenwashing” to improve their score by “conveying a false impression or misleading information about how a company’s products are environmentally sound.” Even worse, Forbes writes:

In 2021, The Economist studied the world’s 20 biggest ESG funds; it found that each of them held investments in fossil-fuel producers, while others held stakes in oil producers, coal-mining, gambling, alcohol and tobacco.

I still look at a company’s ESG rating, but I have now learned to “look under the hood” as investment advisors suggest.

It is his favorite target, but has Riley Moore ever bothered to “look under the hood” of BlackRock’s holdings?

I doubt it. As most of my posts about Moore point out, Riley is about publicity and saying anything to get it; follow through and truthfulness do not appear to be high priorities. To its credit, however, West Virginia Public Broadcasting has fact-checked Moore’s attacks upon BlackRock and found them to be false.

Six weeks ago, WVPB talked to the director of the Sierra Club’s Fossil Free Finance campaign, Ben Cushing, who directly contradicted Moore’s claims about BlackRock with evidence. Speaking of BlackRock, Cushing noted:

“It’s one of the largest shareholders of publicly traded fossil fuel companies on the planet.”

Citing Sierra Club research on the EQT Corporation, WVPB explained:

A report earlier this month from the Sierra Club shows that in 2022 and 2023, BlackRock bought more than $45 million in bonds issued by EQT Corporation.

Not only is EQT one of the largest gas producers in Appalachia, it also is poised to be the biggest user of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

(By the way, page 5 of the report notes how “asset managers are greenwashing their climate pledges.”)

A final note: Riley Moore is still Riley Moore but it is good to see a member of the WV media paying attention.