Larry Fink, the Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock Inc. said he feels ESG investing has become surrounded by a narrative that has become ugly and is creating, “huge polarization.”

In an interview with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Fink said, “I’m taking this very seriously. We are trying to address the misconceptions. It’s hard because it’s not business any more, they’re doing it in a personal way. And for the first time in my professional career, attacks are now personal. They’re trying to demonize the issues.”

Fink has been an outspoken advocate for ESG investing, which seeks to maximize returns by investing in companies which have strong environmental, social, and governance goals. He has often made it a focal point of his annual letters to the industry.

As a result, his firm has been taking a beating from both sides of the political spectrum, as those on the right complain that ESG investing harms the fossil fuel industry and degrades the pursuit of raw profitability, while many on the left have complained he has not done enough specifically to tackle climate change.

Fink went on, “Let’s be clear, the narrative is ugly, the narrative is creating this huge polarization. If you really read the CEO letters that I’ve written in the past I talk about a transition.”

In an attempt to counter the critics, the asset manager flooded record sums into US political campaigns last year, launched an advertising campaign to explain its business to the public, and hired additional lobbyists in Texas and Washington.

He added, “We are doing everything we can to change the narrative.” Fink said he was planning to write a letter to business leaders this quarter focusing on the “concept of hope,” because, “BlackRock is a firm that tries to sell hope because why would anybody put something into a 30-year obligation unless you believe something is better in 30 years?”

Although Blackrock’s assets under management had crossed the $10 trillion mark by the end of 2021, as of December 2022 they stood at $8.59 trillion, despite a wave of fourth quarter inflows into its funds. The losses were due in part to a wave of outflows produced by Republican governors who began pulling state investments out of the asset manager’s funds due to a perception it was emphasizing politics over investor returns.

Photo of Larry Fink courtesy of Wikipedia