Letter to Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock Inc. - Demanding Answers Regarding Involvement with Climate Action 100+ and Potential Antitrust Violations

Letter

Dear Mr. Fink,

I'm writing about your involvement in a scheme to reduce drilling for oil and gas.

BlackRock is an "investor participant" in Climate Action 100+ ("CA100+"), "an investor-led initiative" to pressure "the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters [to] take necessary action on climate change" like, for example, pressuring oil companies to drill for less oil. According to CA100+, "investor participants" are "signatories to the initiative and are responsible for direct engagements with focus companies" that directly compete with one another.

Your anti-drilling coercion threatens our national security, hurts Americans struggling to buy a tank of gas, and appears to violate antitrust laws. Specifically, by engaging with competing "focus companies," CA100+ investor participants appear to be running a spoke-and-hub conspiracy to restrict the supply of fossil fuels and impose various other unlawful restraints on trade. By "collaborating" with other investors, you and your fellow CA100+ investor participants appear to be acting like a climate cartel.

In light of the growing concerns about anti-competitive ESG activities, many law firms have begun offering antitrust counsel to clients participating in initiatives like CA100+.

Please provide answers to the following questions by July 20, 2022:

Has BlackRock engaged with any focus companies as part of the CA100+ initiative? If so, please list each focus company.

Has BlackRock collaborated with any other investor participants as part of the CA100+ initiative? If so, please list each investor participant.

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