Texas bans BlackRock funds buying oil stocks

ESG fight: Windmills rise behind cattle standing in a feed lot in Rosston, Texas. State comptroller Hegar has published a list of entities that he determined engage in a ‘boycott’ of fossil fuels under Republican legislation passed in 2021. — AP

NEW YORK: Texas bars its public pensions from investing in 350 funds run by asset-management giants such as BlackRock Inc and Invesco Ltd because a key Republican state official says they “boycott” the oil and gas (O&G) industries.

But a Bloomberg News analysis found that the 72 BlackRock funds on the prohibited list have invested more than US$2bil in the oil industry, while an Invesco fund allocates about 20% to oil and natural gas companies, some of which are also Texas-based.