BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who faced intense backlash for championing ESG, says he’s ‘ashamed’ the topic has become politicized

Prarthana Prakash

In 2018, <a href="https://fortune.com/company/blackrock/" target="_blank">BlackRock</a> CEO Larry Fink wrote his annual letter as in previous years—but this one was different in that he broached the subject of companies serving “<a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=933241e4-a6f7-46af-ab4f-870b21f27e9f">a social purpose</a>.” That marked the world’s largest asset manager’s entry into a long-drawn political debate over investments that prioritize ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors.&nbsp;<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">



But five years after championing the cause, Fink now says he’s “ashamed” of being part of all the ESG talk—not because it isn’t worthwhile, but because it has become too politicized.&nbsp;



“I’m ashamed of being part of this conversation,” Fink said at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Sunday, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/06/26/larry-fink-ashamed-esg-weaponized-desantis">Axios reported</a>. “When I write these letters, it was never meant to be a political statement…They were written to identify long-term issues to our long-term investors.”



Later in the conversation, when asked for more about his comment on the ESG debate, Fink walked back his stance.&nbsp;



“I’m not ashamed. I do believe in conscientious capitalism,” Fink said.&nbsp;



The billionaire chief of BlackRock, which manages upwards of $9 trillion in assets, pioneered the idea of ESG before it became a buzzword in investing. ESG covers a broad spectrum of topics—from climate change to diversity to inclusion initiatives. BlackRock has since been caught in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/business/blackrock-esg-investing.html">tug-of-war</a>, with Republicans calling the firm’s ESG push “woke capitalism” and progressives accusing it of “greenwashing,” or championing practices that aren’t as environmentally sound as they appear to be. Fink said that given how the term ESG had become “weaponized,” he wants to stay away from using it altogether.&nbsp;



​​“I’m not going to use the word ESG because it’s been misused by the far left and the far right,” Fink said, according to Axios.



Fink has spoken out about the criticism he has received as the unofficial face of ESG. In January, he said the attacks had gotten personal and that he was <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/01/17/larry-fink-blackrock-esg-investing-personal-attacks-polarized/">working on addressing</a> “misconceptions” about BlackRock’s ESG policies.



“It’s hard—because it’s not business anymore, they’re doing it in a personal way,” he <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-17/blackrock-s-fink-says-esg-narrative-has-become-ugly-personal">told Bloomberg</a> during an event. “And for the first time in my professional career, attacks are now personal. They’re trying to demonize issues.”



It wasn’t always this way, though. Initially, BlackRock was synonymous with ESG and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/06/blackrock-esg-climate-woke/">an important part</a> of the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, a UN program aimed at finance companies reaching net-zero emissions goals by 2050. Fink’s letters even in 2019 and 2020 spoke of changes in how investing is viewed and how concerns like climate change were becoming a cornerstone for BlackRock.&nbsp;



“In the near future—and sooner than most anticipate—there will be a significant reallocation of capital,” he wrote in his annual letter from January 2020. “Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.”&nbsp;



In Fink’s 2022 letter, the focus had shifted to <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/01/18/blackrock-ceo-larry-fink-stakeholder-capitalism-annual-letter-net-zero/">stakeholder capitalism</a>, a concept based on companies serving the interests of all stakeholders, defending the attacks on BlackRock’s ESG stance from conservatives.&nbsp;



“Stakeholder capitalism is not about politics. It is not a social or ideological agenda. It is not ‘woke,’” he wrote.&nbsp;&nbsp;



But several advocacy groups opposed BlackRock’s ESG push, accusing it of investing in China despite reports of human rights abuse of workers as well as in companies that harm the environment.&nbsp;



Several states also weighed in on the debate, with Texas claiming that BlackRock’s mission was <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/25/texas-says-10-companies-including-blackrock-boycotting-energy-.html">“boycotting” fossil fuel</a> companies and Florida threatening to withdraw $2 billion worth of treasury funds from the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-26/blackrock-retains-florida-s-billions-as-desantis-wages-esg-fight">asset manager</a>.



Despite the increasingly polarized debate over ESG, Fink seems intent on pursuing the cause.



“This is not going to be perfect, and it’s not going to be a straight line,” he told the <a href="https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/why-larry-fink-is-paranoid-petrified-and-enthusiastic-20230607-p5deu9">Australian Financial Review</a> earlier this month.&nbsp;



BlackRock declined Fortune’s request for comment.



Clarification, June 26, 2023: This article&#8217;s headline has been updated to make it clearer that Fink is ashamed of how ESG has, in his view, been politicized. </div>

The billionaire CEO of the world’s largest asset manager said that ESG has become politically “weaponized.”

BlackRock’s Larry Fink is ‘ashamed’ of the ESG debate

Did your workplace make our list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For?
<a href="https://fortune.com/ranking/best-companies/?&itm_source=fortune&itm_medium=article_tout&itm_campaign=AprMayMag">Explore this year's list.</a>

F-BreakingNews

BlackRock

Finance

The billionaire CEO of the world’s largest asset manager said ESG has become politically “weaponized.”

BlackRock’s Larry Fink is ‘ashamed’ of the ESG debate | Fortune

Shawn Tully

Elon Musk points behind him to a Tesla Cybertruck.

Car wreck: What to believe, Elon Musk’s promises or Tesla’s terrible results for Q1?

/article/car-wreck-musk-promises-tesla/

Jordan Blum

Two Halliburton employees, clad in red coveralls, work at a pressure pumping, or fracking, operation in the Permian Basin.

Halliburton CEO sees ‘more risk’ to company’s outlook than 3 months ago

/article/halliburton-ceo-trump-tariff-uncertainty/

Leo Schwartz

Stock market rallies after Treasury Secretary Bessent tells a closed-door investor summit that the tariff standoff with China is unsustainable

/article/stock-market-rally-bessent-treasury-secretary-tariffs-tesla/

James Pollard

Amelia Thomson-Deveaux

The Associated Press

Gen Z and millennials are donating less to charity than Boomers—and it could worsen America’s ‘generosity crisis’

/article/donations-philanthropy-charity-gen-z-millennials-boomers-economy-giving/

Where will tariffs and inflation stand a year from now? Fitch’s chief economist outlines a worrisome prediction

/article/tariffs-trade-inflation-gdp-fitch-predictions/

Alena Botros

If Trump fires Jerome Powell and replaces him with someone more politically pliant, ‘it could be something that backfires on Trump spectacularly,’ researcher says

/article/trump-jerome-powell-fed-interest-rates-tariffs-trade/

Matt Sedensky

Elon Musk’s DOGE is claiming victory after uncovering $382 million in unemployment fraud—but the government already found it years ago: ‘I don’t think it’s news to anyone’

https://fortune.com/2025/04/15/elon-musk-doge-unemployment-fraud-claims/?itm_source=parsely-api

Emma Burleigh

Gen Zers are so terrified of a recession that they’re ditching doom spending, ordering Happy Meals, and using ChatGPT for free therapy

https://fortune.com/article/gen-z-recession-fears-no-buy-lists-spending-habits/?itm_source=parsely-api

https://fortune.com/article/stock-market-rally-bessent-treasury-secretary-tariffs-tesla/?itm_source=parsely-api

Robert Hormats

Ray Dalio fears ‘something worse than a recession.’ If anything his fears are understated

https://fortune.com/article/ray-dalio-recession-fears-understated/?itm_source=parsely-api

Chris Morris

Who’s running the Catholic church until a new pope is chosen? Meet Kevin

https://fortune.com/article/whos-running-catholic-church-until-conclave-new-pope-chosen-kevin-joseph-farrell/?itm_source=parsely-api

Jesse Bedayn

Emergency federal housing voucher program that pays rent for 60,000 families may end soon as money runs out: 'To have it stop would completely upend all the progress that they’ve made'

https://fortune.com/article/emergency-federal-housing-voucher-rent-60000-families-end-soon-money/?itm_source=parsely-api