NEW YORK — On November 27, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his intention to sue major asset managers BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, accusing them of using their role in climate-focused investment initiatives Climate Action 100 and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative to do what he claims was "manipulate coal markets and drive up the cost of energy."
In response to the lawsuit, Ben Cushing, campaign director for the Sierra Club's Fossil-Free Finance campaign, issued the following statement:
"This lawsuit distracts from the reality that the coal industry’s decline is driven by competition from cleaner, cheaper energy sources — not the actions of big asset managers. While BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street still hold significant stakes in fossil fuels, they’ve done far too little to address the climate risks endangering their clients’ portfolios and the broader economy. These legal attacks appear to be less about protecting constituents' financial security and more about shielding corporate polluters from accountability. If policymakers want to address market concentration in the investment industry, that’s a conversation worth having. But if their real goal is to derail the shift toward a cleaner energy future, they will not succeed."
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.