Major institutional investors have artificially lowered coal production and raised energy costs for consumers in an effort to lower global carbon emissions, a federal lawsuit claims.
Republican attorneys general in 11 states filed a joint lawsuit last month against BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, claiming the organizations’ efforts to pressure coal companies to lower carbon emissions and respond to climate change amount to anti-competitive business practices.
All three companies, the lawsuit says, have acquired significant shares in the largest publicly-traded coal companies to coerce their management.
“For the past four years, America’s coal producers have been responding not to the price signals of the free market, but to the commands of Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and CEO, and his fellow asset managers,” the lawsuit…
