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JPMorgan Asset Management and State Street Global Advisors quit a $68 trillion investment group, formed to push the biggest polluters to take action on climate change. BlackRock also distanced itself by transferring membership in Climate Action 100+ to a smaller international arm, the Financial Times reported.

These latest high profile defections highlight the politicized nature of climate change in the U.S.

Climate Action 100+ was originally formed in 2017 to push "100 of the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters" to align themselves with the Paris Agreement. In 2023, the group announced a new phase intended to push corporate polluters to "move from words to action" by actually cutting down on emissions, among other things.

A SSGA spokesperson told Inc. in a statement that "the enhanced Climate Action 100+ Phase 2 requirements for signatories will not be consistent with our independent approach to proxy voting and portfolio company engagement."

BlackRock, meanwhile, said the priorities conflicted with its own duty to prioritize clients' economic interests.

A JPMAM spokesperson said the asset manager chose not to renew its membership in the group because of investment in its "stewardship team," as well as "the development of its own climate risk engagement framework."

"We believe that climate change continues to present material economic risks and opportunities to our clients, and our analysts will continue to factor this into engagement with companies around the world," the spokesperson added in an email.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) took to social media platform X to celebrate the news, calling the decisions "big wins for freedom and the American economy." The committee previously subpoenaed BlackRock and SSGA over sustainable investing. Republican lawmakers have been highly skeptical of asset manager's actions on climate change, in some cases initiating investigations into their actions or banning them outright from working with state-level governments, Financial Times reported.

A spokesperson for Climate Action 100+ said that in spite of the departures, 60 more signatories signed on since last fall and that "the initiative continues as intended with hundreds of global investors still committed to engaging 170 companies..." It also touted progress in the form of 77 percent of target companies committing to net zero by 2050 or sooner.

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