Texas legislators have excused Vanguard from being grilled on its investment practices at a hearing on environmental, social and governmental investment factors, a week after the asset management giant quit the main global financial alliance on tackling climate change.
The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs on Thursday planned to question executives from Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street over their ESG investment policies. Republican leaders in the state — the largest US oil and natural gas producer — have accused some banks and asset managers of hostility to fossil fuels.
On Wednesday the committee said that Vanguard no longer needed to attend the hearing in the small city of Marshall, Texas. It cited the $7.1tn asset manager’s decision last week to abandon the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, whose members have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.