Ex-ESG Insiders Dismiss Corporate Green Goals as Toothless Hype (1)

Tariq Fancy’s growing sense of unease and frustration with sustainable investing culminated on a private jet.

The irony wasn’t lost on Fancy, BlackRock Inc.’s former chief investment officer for sustainable investing. He was traveling in Europe in March 2019 when he had a heated exchange with a sales colleague. Fancy and his team had just presented the money manager’s latest low-carbon funds to prospective clients, when one asked what impact those funds had on actually cutting emissions. Battling his own growing doubts on whether they had any effect, Fancy said that if enough of the funds were sold, ...