❓WHAT HAPPENED: Major ESG-linked asset managers received tens of millions in federal contracts from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation during the Biden era.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Wellington Management, Neuberger Berman, Allspring Global Investments, the PBGC, and various Biden-era advisory committees.

📍WHEN & WHERE: 2016–2026; Washington, D.C.; contracts accessed via USAspending.gov.

💬KEY QUOTE: “Our north star is the belief that material ESG issues can affect the long-term value of assets we invest in.” – Wellington Management

🎯IMPACT: U.S. taxpayer dollars continue subsidizing ESG-aligned firms advancing progressive climate and diversity agendas within federal financial systems.

An investigation by The National Pulse has revealed that global asset management firms with extensive ties to left-wing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) networks received tens of millions of taxpayer dollars in contracts from the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) under the Biden government. These funds have primarily gone to firms like Wellington Management, Neuberger Berman, and Allspring Global—each deeply embedded in climate and diversity advocacy groups.

Wellington Management, managing over $1 trillion in client assets, was awarded over $114 million in federal contracts and maintains affiliations with other leftist entities like Ceres, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and other ESG institutions. Wellington executives also sit on Biden-era federal advisory boards within the Treasury and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the firm champions DEI programs through partnerships like Pride+, Black Opportunity Fund, and Shades.

Understanding such networks and how taxpayer cash is funneled to them is critical to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-style efforts and assessing how left-wing corporate and media echo chambers function.

Neuberger Berman, managing $508 billion, was granted over $24 million by the PBGC and has used its leverage to pressure corporations, including Costco and Coterra Energy, into publishing climate disclosures and cutting emissions. It partners with groups like the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and maintains ties to the Chinese market through its Shanghai and Hong Kong offices, recently launching onshore investment products targeted at Chinese retail investors.

Allspring Global Investments, which advises over $600 billion, received $22.2 million in federal funds and has aggressively lobbied firms like Dominion Energy and Xcel Energy to phase out coal operations and hit net-zero emissions by 2030. Since 2021, Allspring’s ESG engagement has tripled, supported by its own DEI framework and eight dedicated employee groups focused on identity-based representation.

PBGC, the agency disbursing these funds, was originally created to protect private-sector pensions, not bankroll ESG-aligned Wall Street firms. Under Biden’s Treasury, its leadership was advised by the Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee (CFRAC), a highly partisan panel that even included Wellington’s Head of Sustainable Investment.

This growing federal–ESG alliance threatens to continue redirecting public funds toward private ideological missions without public consent or oversight.

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