The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts announced on June 3 that it is no longer listing BlackRock Inc. as a company that boycotts the oil and gas industry because it has stepped back from climate initiatives and increased the number of funds allowed to invest in oil and gas.
State law requires Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s office to annually update a list of financial institutions that have environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies against the fossil fuel industry. These policies aim to lower a company’s CO2 emissions by encouraging it to invest in sustainable energy sources, said accounting lecturer Paul Parsons.
After President Donald Trump announced the United States’ potential withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the pressure on U.S. companies to reduce their emissions has lowered, Parsons said. Due to this, some of the biggest asset managers, such as BlackRock, J.P. Morgan and State Street, have withdrawn from climate initiatives, causing them to collapse, he said.
Texas financial agencies were required to divest from BlackRock Inc. when it was added to the comptroller’s list in 2022. The Texas Permanent School Fund pulled a $8.5 billion investment in BlackRock to comply with the list, according to a 2024 statement by Aaron Kinsey, chairman of the State Board of Education. However, because of BlackRock’s changes in policy, these agencies can now resume their investments.
BlackRock Inc. transferred its participation in the Climate Action 100+ to a subsidiary under the name of BlackRock International in February 2024, according to a letter to the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee. This made the firm no longer a full member of the initiative, which holds the largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters responsible for their actions against the environment.
BlackRock Inc. later withdrew entirely from the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative in January 2025, which supported the goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to a BlackRock Inc. announcement. BlackRock also changed its policies to limit support for activists calling for reduced fossil fuel investments, according to a Hegar statement.
“Recent developments in the U.S. and different regulatory and client expectations in investors’ respective jurisdictions have led to NZAM launching a review of the initiative to ensure NZAM remains fit for purpose in the new global context,” NZAM wrote in an update.
BlackRock wrote in a statement that its participation in various climate finance organizations over the last few years has caused confusion regarding the company’s practices and subjected the firm to legal inquiries from various public officials.
Hegar wrote that BlackRock is engaging in a “more intellectually honest conversation” by acknowledging the real social and economic costs that come from limiting investment in the oil and gas industry in Texas and across the globe.
“My team worked tirelessly to create a transparent process that gave companies a clear understanding of how they got on our list and a definitive path to removal,” Hegar said. “We never set out to punish any of these firms, and the hope was always that any firm we included on the list would eventually take steps to ensure they were removed.”
A BlackRock Inc. spokesperson wrote in an email that the corporation appreciates the decision taken by the Texas Comptroller.
“BlackRock is proud to help millions of Texans retire with dignity and, on behalf of clients, invests over $400 billion in corporations, local governments, energy infrastructure and other private assets throughout the state,” BlackRock wrote. “These investments support the continued growth of the Texas economy.”
