Asset management giant BlackRock has leveraged Oklahomans’ pension funds to advance a racial and climate agenda since 2022, according to a report from conservative watchdog group American Accountability Foundation (AAF).
Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) enlists the services of BlackRock, which managed around $4.4 billion of the system’s investments as of June 2023, according to its annual financial report. BlackRock voted 54 times to back shareholder proposals “supporting policies such as racial equity audits, gender pay gap reports, efforts to defund conservative candidates and pro-business trade associations, and radical climate policy,” according to AAF, based on documents it obtained through a public records request.