West Virginia slaps more Wall Street banks with boycott threat over ESG

A half-dozen more of some of the world’s largest financial institutions could soon be banned by West Virginia for their support of the climate-conscious investing strategy known as ESG, or environmental, social and corporate governance.

State Treasurer Riley Moore has warned six major banks they’ll be banned from state business for what the Republican says is their role in boycotting fossil fuel and threatening West Virginia’s energy-rich economy.

“What we’re trying to do is protect our tax dollars, a large sum of which is generated from the fossil fuel industry, from being managed by financial institutions that are trying to destroy those tax dollars because they’re against the industries which created them,” Mr. Moore told The Washington Times.

He added, “We must remain vigilant to ensure we do not entrust state funds to banks that are engaged in coordinated political efforts to destroy our state’s critical industries. My action represents our continued commitment to protect taxpayer dollars from harmful ESG policies.”

The banks include Citibank, TD Bank, BMO Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Northern Trust and HSBC Holdings, according to notices obtained through a public records request.

The notices were sent Friday and revealed on Monday.

HSBC vehemently rejected the assertion from Mr. Moore that it boycotts fossil fuels, telling The Times that it has such energy companies as clients. 

“HSBC does not consider itself to be a company which ‘boycotts’ financing of energy companies. We seek a balanced approach in the implementation of our net-zero commitment, with the primary aim being to support our customers in the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy,” an HSBC spokesperson said.

“We will continue to provide corporate lending and capital markets transaction support to energy-based customers that take an active role in the energy transition and engage with our clients on their transition plans that lie at the heart of our approach. This includes energy companies throughout the U.S., whom we are pleased to have as clients,” the spokesperson said.

Fifth Third Bank told The Times that it hopes to “clarify any misconceptions and continue to be available to provide banking services to the state of West Virginia” and doesn’t “prohibit or boycott any business or industry.”

Citibank declined to comment. The rest didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The warnings from Mr. Moore are an escalation of his fight against ESG, which conservatives assail as woke capitalism. Mr. Moore, running for a House seat, was an early ESG opponent and helped pave the way for other red states and congressional Republicans to take the anti-ESG fight nationally.

Under a 2022 state law, Mr. Moore created the Restricted Financial Institution List and ceased business with five Wall Street giants for their ESG activity: BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

The latest six banks will also be placed on the list April 7 unless they provide information by March 23 “demonstrating that [they are] not engaged in a boycott of energy companies.”

West Virginia doesn’t bank with any of them, and state pensions wouldn’t be affected, according to Mr. Moore. But the banks would be prohibited from bidding on any state contracts for financial services.

Each bank’s appeal will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and some ESG involvement won’t automatically disqualify the institutions from conducting state business.

“We saw U.S. Bank change their policy the last time we did this, and they were able to keep a contract with the state of West Virginia,” Mr. Moore said.

He also pointed to Bank of America as evidence there’s still time for the banks to avoid landing on his boycott list. In its updated Environmental and Social Risk Policy Framework published this month, Bank of America backtracked on a previous pledge to no longer finance new fossil fuel projects, including coal mines, coal-burning power plants and Arctic drilling.

“We are winning, but we’ve not won,” Mr. Moore said. “All we’re trying to do here is we want banks to act like banks and continue in our fight here to liberate the free market.

“Some institutions, such as Bank of America, have recently been proactive in adjusting their corporate policy statements to return to fairer, more objective treatment of our coal, oil and natural gas industries. As I’ve said all along, we just want banks to act like banks and judge these companies on sound, objective financial metrics rather than subjective political factors.”