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    (DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) - 2023-07-06 JDJ TM DB To Fink - BlackRock

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    Henry Rodgers
    The Committee on the Judiciary is investigating BlackRock for potential antitrust violations related to its agreements to decarbonize assets and achieve net zero emissions by 2050 as part of Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. The letter requests documents from BlackRock regarding its decisions to join these initiatives and how it developed decarbonization targets, as well as any agreements between asset managers to advance these goals, by July 20. It argues such collusive agreements could illegally restrict output and harm consumers.

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    (DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) - 2023-07-06 JDJ TM DB To Fink - BlackRock

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    Henry Rodgers
    101 views4 pages
    The Committee on the Judiciary is investigating BlackRock for potential antitrust violations related to its agreements to decarbonize assets and achieve net zero emissions by 2050 as part of Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. The letter requests documents from BlackRock regarding its decisions to join these initiatives and how it developed decarbonization targets, as well as any agreements between asset managers to advance these goals, by July 20. It argues such collusive agreements could illegally restrict output and harm consumers.

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    (DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) -- 2023-07-06 JDJ TM DB to Fink - BlackRock

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    (DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) -- 2023-07-06 JDJ TM DB to Fink - BlackRock

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    The Committee on the Judiciary is investigating BlackRock for potential antitrust violations related to its agreements to decarbonize assets and achieve net zero emissions by 2050 as part of Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. The letter requests documents from BlackRock regarding its decisions to join these initiatives and how it developed decarbonization targets, as well as any agreements between asset managers to advance these goals, by July 20. It argues such collusive agreements could illegally restrict output and harm consumers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    101 views4 pages

    (DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) - 2023-07-06 JDJ TM DB To Fink - BlackRock

    Uploaded by

    Henry Rodgers
    The Committee on the Judiciary is investigating BlackRock for potential antitrust violations related to its agreements to decarbonize assets and achieve net zero emissions by 2050 as part of Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. The letter requests documents from BlackRock regarding its decisions to join these initiatives and how it developed decarbonization targets, as well as any agreements between asset managers to advance these goals, by July 20. It argues such collusive agreements could illegally restrict output and harm consumers.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 4

    July 6, 2023

    Mr. Larry Fink


    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
    BlackRock, Inc.
    50 Hudson Yards
    New York, NY 10001

    Dear Mr. Fink:

    The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of the adequacy and enforcement
    of U.S. antitrust laws.1 We write because BlackRock, Inc. (BlackRock) is potentially violating
    U.S. antitrust law by entering into agreements to “decarbonize” its assets under management and
    reduce emissions to net zero—with potentially harmful effects on Americans’ freedom and
    economic well-being. Accordingly, to advance our oversight and inform potential legislative
    reforms, we write to ask BlackRock to produce relevant documents and information.

    BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with over $9 trillion of assets under
    management as of March 31, 2023.2 As of the end of 2021, BlackRock owns 7.7% of the shares
    and casts 9.8% of the votes of the entire Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500.3 Together with State
    Street Corporation and The Vanguard Group, Inc., BlackRock is one of the so-called “Big
    Three” asset managers that own a combined 21.9% and vote a combined 24.9% of the shares of
    the S&P 500.4

    BlackRock is a member of both Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers
    initiative (NZAM). Through Climate Action 100+, BlackRock appears to have reached a
    collusive agreement with other institutional investors to “work with the companies in which
    [they] invest to . . . deliver[] net zero [greenhouse gas (GHG)] emissions by 2050.”5 Similarly,
    through NZAM, BlackRock appears to collusively have agreed with other asset managers to

    1
    See generally Rules of the House of Representatives R. X (2023).
    2
    BlackRock, Quarterly Report 31 (Form 10-Q) (May 5, 2023).
    3
    Scott Hirst & Lucian Bebchuk, Big Three Power, and Why It Matters, 102 B.U. L. Rev. 1547, 1556, 1558 (2022).
    4
    Id. at 1552.
    5
    CLIMATE ACTION 100+, THE THREE GOALS, https://www.climateaction100.org/approach/the-three-goals/.
    Mr. Larry Fink
    July 6, 2023
    Page 2

    “[w]ork in partnership with asset owner clients on decarbonisation goals, consistent with an
    ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner across all assets under management.”6

    These collusive agreements to “decarboni[ze]” and reduce emissions to net zero by 20507
    would require draconian “declines in the use of coal, oil and gas”: as much as 98% for coal,8
    94% for oil, and 86% for fossil fuels overall.9 This, in turn, would require radical “steps such as
    halting sales of new internal combustion engine passenger cars by 2035, and phasing out all
    unabated coal and oil power plants by 2040.”10 It also would mean “that no new oil and gas
    fields must be developed,” choking off investment in these industries.11 Such restrictions limit
    output and increase prices, and deprive businesses of investments and consumers of choices. The
    potential consequences for American freedom and economic well-being are far-reaching.

    Collusive agreements harm competition and consumers and are illegal under the Sherman
    Act.12 Horizontal output restrictions are per se illegal,13 but “the types of conduct banned” are
    not limited to “regulat[ing] prices . . . or limit[ing] production.”14 Rather, any “[c]oercive activity
    that prevents its victims from making free choices between market alternatives is inherently
    destructive of competitive conditions and may be condemned.”15 This holds true whether or not
    there is “an effect on prices”16 because “all elements of a bargain—quality, service, safety, and
    durability—and not just the immediate cost, are favorably affected by the free opportunity to
    select among alternative offers.”17 Moreover, as the Supreme Court has explained, “[t]he social
    justifications proffered for [the] restraint of trade” cannot redeem anticompetitive collusion.18

    Accordingly, to help the Committee better understand BlackRock’s role in entering into
    agreements to “decarbonize” assets under management and reduce emissions to net zero, please
    produce, for the period from January 1, 2019, to the present:

    6
    NZAM, COMMITMENT, https://www.netzeroassetmanagers.org/commitment/.
    7
    Id.
    8
    See INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, NET ZERO BY 2050: A ROADMAP FOR THE GLOBAL ENERGY SECTOR
    (May 2021), https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050.
    9
    See STATE OF CALIFORNIA, CALIFORNIA RELEASES WORLD’S FIRST PLAN TO ACHIEVE NET ZERO CARBON
    POLLUTION (Nov. 16, 2022), https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/11/16/california-releases-worlds-first-plan-to-achieve-
    net-zero-carbon-pollution/; see also INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, supra note 8 (Fossil fuels must “fall from
    almost four-fifths of total energy supply today to slightly over one-fifth by 2050.”).
    10
    INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, supra note 8.
    11
    NET-ZERO ASSET OWNER ALLIANCE, NET-ZERO ASSET OWNER ALLIANCE SETS EXPECTATIONS FOR OIL AND GAS
    INVESTMENTS AND CALLS ON COMPANIES AND POLICYMAKERS TO ALIGN WITH 1.5C PATHWAYS (Mar. 29, 2023),
    https://www.unepfi.org/industries/net-zero-asset-owner-alliance-outlines-new-guidance-for-oil-and-gas-
    investments-while-calling-on-companies-policymakers-and-investors-to-align-with-1-5c-pathways/.
    12
    See 15 U.S.C. § 1.
    13
    See NCAA v. Bd. of Regents, 468 U.S. 85, 104 (1984).
    14
    Fashion Originators’ Guild of Am. v. FTC, 312 U.S. 457 (1941).
    15
    Associated Gen. Contractors of California, Inc. v. California State Council of Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519, 528
    (1983).
    16
    Klor’s, Inc. v. Broadway-Hale Stores, Inc., 359 U.S. 207, 213 n.7 (1959).
    17
    Nat’l Soc. of Pro. Engineers v. United States, 435 U.S. 679, 695 (1978).
    18
    FTC v. Superior Ct. Trial Laws. Ass’n, 493 U.S. 411, 424 (1990).
    Mr. Larry Fink
    July 6, 2023
    Page 3

    1. All documents and communications referring or relating to the need for BlackRock to
    advance decarbonization and net zero emissions goals, including BlackRock’s
    decisions to join Climate Action 100+ and NZAM;
    2. All documents and communications referring or relating to how BlackRock
    developed its decarbonization and net zero emissions targets and commitments,
    including those targets and commitments developed by alliances or initiatives such as
    Climate Action 100+ and NZAM;

    3. All documents and communications referring or relating to how BlackRock and other
    asset managers can or should advance decarbonization and net zero emissions goals,
    including but not limited to through setting investment policies, making investment
    decisions, sponsoring, supporting, opposing, or voting for directors and stockholder
    proposals, and entering into agreement, commitment, or other participation with
    alliances or initiatives such as Climate Action 100+ and NZAM;

    4. All documents and communications referring or relating to any agreement or


    commitment, or any effort to reach such an agreement or commitment, between or
    among BlackRock, other asset managers, and alliances or initiatives such as Climate
    Action 100+ and NZAM or any of their members, to advance decarbonization and net
    zero emissions goals, including but not limited to documents and communications
    referring or relating to any of their knowledge or awareness of another’s agreement or
    commitment, and documents and communications reflecting or suggesting agreement
    or commitment as to specific steps, policies, or best practices; and

    5. All documents and communications referring or relating to how BlackRock’s


    decarbonization and net zero emissions goals, agreements, and commitments,
    including those goals, agreements, and commitments developed by alliances or
    initiatives such as Climate Action 100+ and NZAM, affect output, price, or the
    choices available to consumers and investors, including but not limited to the markets
    for fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil.

    Please produce the requested information as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 p.m.
    EDT on July 20, 2023.

    Furthermore, this letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future
    records and materials relating to the topics addressed in this letter. You should construe this
    preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or
    alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other
    information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this
    congressional inquiry. This instruction includes all electronic messages sent using your official
    and personal accounts or devices, including records created using text messages, phone-based
    message applications, or encryption software.
    Mr. Larry Fink
    July 6, 2023
    Page 4

    If you have any questions about this request, please contact Committee staff at (202) 225-
    6906. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.

    Sincerely,

    Jim Jordan Thomas Massie


    Chairman Chairman
    Subcommittee on the Administrative
    State, Regulatory Reform, and
    Antitrust

    Dan Bishop
    Member of Congress

    cc: The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler, Ranking Member

    The Honorable Lou Correa, Ranking Member


    Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust

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