Get woke, go broke: SVB’s focus on ESG led to its collapse

04/04/2023 / By Oliver Young

Businesses devoting resources to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies should learn from the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB.)

The collapsed bank prioritized woke politics over the financial wellbeing of their clients. Instead of hiring qualified candidates for critical positions within the company and making prudent financial decisions, SVB focused on ESG – particularly climate and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The bank even left its chief risk officer position open for eight months.

As evidenced by their “A” ESG rating, the failed bank was too focused on pushing a progressive agenda. That political focus did nothing to help it avoid disaster.

Although the bank was already struggling in January last year, SVB boasted that it had committed at least $5 billion to support green investment initiatives.

Many are still not familiar with ESG, which is a highly subjective political score that woke fund managers who control trillions of dollars in retirement assets are using to force progressive policies on everyday Americans without their knowledge or approval. It is a radical environmental and social agenda.

ESG is a racket built on a weak foundation of political activism. Asset management firms, banks and proxy advisers need to shift their focus to maximizing returns and safeguarding financial assets instead of playing politics. Otherwise, they might suffer the same fate as SVB.

BlackRock stock value plummets for promoting ESG scores

Last year, major investment firm BlackRock Inc. saw its stock value plummet after a slew of Republican-led states cut ties with it over its promotion of left-wing agenda items through ESG scores. (Related: BlackRock stock downgraded after pushing radical ESG agenda.)

BlackRock Inc. manages almost $10 trillion in investments and boasts such big-ticket holdings as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Tesla, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In October, UBS analyst Brennan Hawken downgraded the firm from “Buy” to “Neutral” due to its increasingly unpopular focus on pushing ESG scores.

Earlier, the firm announced it was launching an effort to help streamline and standardize ESG data, reaching over 70,000 private companies.

“We are downgrading BlackRock to ‘Neutral’ based on environmental pressure to earnings and risk from the firm’s ESG positioning,” Hawken said in the report, which flagged ESG as “increasingly risky.”

Hawken cut BlackRock’s target stock price by $115 per share – from $700 to $585. The firm’s shares fell by one percent following the report.

ESG scores promote investment in companies that advance left-wing social justice goals, including green energy, racial equity and abortion access. Pressured by left-wing shareholders, many major corporations have begun promoting radical ideology on a range of social issues including homosexuality, transgenderism, race and abortion.

BlackRock has actively endorsed ESG principles and promised to promote diversity, equity and inclusion by leveraging its “ESG-focused financial products.” The World Economic Forum is listed as one of BlackRock’s key diversity partners.

Despite these warning signals, President Joe Biden used his veto authority for the first time on March 20 to kill a bipartisan congressional resolution reversing ESG policies. This means that maximizing retirement account holders’ returns will play second fiddle to progressive policy goals and that retirement portfolios are being placed in jeopardy.

Biden simply ignored that SVB’s collapse serves as the canary in the coal mine for ESG investments.

The American people should take notice and be vocal. This financial freewheeling has already collapsed financial institutions. Worse, it may also put the country on the brink of collapse.

Watch this video about that talks about the Jews behind SVB’s collapse.

This video is from The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.