FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A federal court ruling regarding ESG investing with BlackRock could put public pension funds on the defense, a consumer group is warning.
Consumers’ Research sent letters to the largest public pensions boards in each state Tuesday warning BlackRock’s focus on ESG–an acronym for environmental, social, and governance–could lead to serious liabilities and a breach of fiduciary duty and put trillions of dollars in American pension money at risk.
In a first-of-its kind federal court decision on ESG, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, of the Northern District of Texas, held in January in the case of Spence v. American Airlines that the airline’s pension was in breach of its fiduciary duty for allowing BlackRock to weigh ESG consideration in employees’ retirement plans. BlackRock was not a party in the lawsuit.
“In Spence,…
