BlackRock has become a target of Republicans for its efforts on global warming and parted ways with major climate groups

BlackRock Inc., which has been targeted by Republican politicians for its efforts on global warming, is parting ways with one of the world’s largest climate investment groups.

The fund manager said in a letter to clients on Thursday that it had decided to withdraw from the net-zero asset management company scheme. The New York-based firm said membership in the group “has led to confusion about BlackRock’s practices and exposed us to legal investigations by multiple public officials.”

BlackRock, which manages more than $11 trillion in assets, has been under attack from Republican lawmakers for supporting what conservatives call “woke” policies. BlackRock was recently among the asset managers named in a lawsuit led by Texas alleging it violated antitrust laws by pursuing climate-friendly strategies that curbed coal production.

Firms such as BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard Group were also named in a House Judiciary Committee report last month, which said it found “evidence of collusion and anticompetitive behavior” in the financial industry to “implement aggressive ESG “Targeting” US companies.

“Our participation in NZAMi does not impact the way we manage our clients’ portfolios,” BlackRock said in the letter signed by deputy chairman Philipp Hildebrand and global head of sustainability and transformation solutions Helen Lees-Jones. “As such, our departure will not change the way we develop products and solutions for our clients, nor will it change the way we manage their portfolios.”

BlackRock added that as of September it managed more than $1 trillion in sustainable and transformational investment strategies and “our commitment to helping clients achieve their investment goals remains unwavering.”

NZAMI is a group of approximately 325 asset managers with approximately $50 trillion in assets under management and is committed to achieving net zero by 2050. State Street Global Advisors, the world’s third-largest asset manager, said in an emailed statement on Thursday that it remained an NZAMI member. The second largest Vanguard Group exited the group in 2022.

A similar coalition of lenders, the Net Zero Bank Alliance, has seen a mass exodus of U.S. members over the past month. Since early December, NZBA has lost Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase.

The moves reflect Wall Street’s desire to protect itself from growing political pressure as Donald Trump returns to the White House. Earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton dropped his threat to cut off municipal bond trading after the bank pulled out of the NZBA.

BlackRock said in a statement that its fund managers “will continue to evaluate material climate-related risks and other investment risks as they serve clients.” The fund manager said about two-thirds of the firm’s largest Customers, including all of its largest customers in Europe, have made net zero commitments.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has been a champion of environmental, social and governance strategies, spending much of his annual letter urging business bosses to focus on climate change and other social issues. But then he came under attack from Republicans, and some states collectively withdrew billions of dollars from BlackRock.

In response, Fink said he no longer uses the ESG label because it has become too political.

“BlackRock is under political pressure to withdraw from the climate group, with shareholders unhappy about the loss of business from national investment funds that oppose the climate group’s agenda,” said Eric Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.