More Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing funds have closed in 2023 than the last years combined amid political backlash and investor scrutiny.
Bloomberg reported that State Street, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Janus Henderson Group, Hartford Management Group, and others closed more than two dozen ESG funds this year, according to Morningstar.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager and a prominent back of ESG investing, said it would close two “sustainable emerging-market bond funds” with total assets of $55 million.
Morningstar also found that investors have pulled more money from ESG funds in the first half of 2023 than they put into them.
ESG investing has become one of the latest vectors by which large financial investing firms can push companies to adopt leftist positions such as anti-climate change, diversity requirements, and racial justice, that they would otherwise not adopt. Conservative politicians and investors have increasingly scrutinized these ESG funds and asset managers that have pushed ESG such as BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard.
Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney reported that a study found that ESG funds appear to underperform financially compared to other funds, while also charging higher fees.
Columbia Threadneedle said its ESG fund was closed due to investor feedback and market demand.
Bloomberg conducted its industry survey of its terminal clients, which generally includes big banks, hedge funds, and other large financial institutions, and found that big investors increasingly see ESG as as underperforming fad.
“ESG has morphed from risk management to political activism for the left,” one respondent said.
Another Bloomberg terminal client said, “Our job is to provide returns for investors, not change the world.”
In June, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he no longer uses “ESG,” lamenting it has become politicized.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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