Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, right, listens as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink makes a statement during opening remarks of the Texas Power Grid Investment Summit on Feb. 6, 2024, in Houston.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick makes a statement during a press conference at the Texas Power Grid Investment Summit, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 in Houston.

Cars destroyed by the Eaton Fire sit in the parking area of a burned auto shop on January 08, 2025 in Altadena, California.

Pumpjacks operate in the foreground while a wind turbines at the Buckeye Wind Energy wind farm rise in the distance, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.

Big banks are capitulating to right-wing politicians opposed to responsible investing, but if executives think giving in to climate change deniers will protect them in the future, they’ve forgotten the lessons of the schoolyard bully.

BlackRock sank a dagger into the heart of the Net-Zero Asset Managers initiative, a global effort to direct more investment toward clean energy companies. After CEO Larry Fink led Wall Street in recognizing that carbon emissions were terrible for economic growth, fossil fuel companies mobilized Republican politicians to blackmail him into backing down.

The strategy worked.

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Last year, the hottest on record, I wrote a series of columns on how Texas lawmakers passed laws banning government entities from doing business with any company that acknowledged climate change, avoided gunmakers or criticized Israel. Even though BlackRock oversaw hundreds of millions in fossil fuel investments,........

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