Billionaire BlackRock CEO Larry Fink runs the world's largest asset manager. Here's how he became one of the most powerful people in finance.

Throughout his career, Fink has been a proponent of environmental, social, and corporate governance principles in business.

He has been vocal about the climate crisis, for example, writing in 2020 that “climate risk is investment risk,” adding that “every government, company, and shareholder must confront climate change.”

Fink, however, no longer uses the term “ESG,” saying it’s become “weaponized” in politics and “misused by the far left and the far right.”

Fink has been hit with criticism from both sides of the political spectrum in recent years.

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called Fink “king of the woke industrial complex, the ESG movement, the CEO of BlackRock, the most powerful company in the world,” at the fourth Republican presidential debate in December.

In a response on LinkedIn, Fink noted BlackRock was accused of “pursuing an ideological agenda.”

“The only agenda we have is delivering for our clients,” he said. “Now I know why they call this the political silly season.”

Fink also has critics on the political left. Climate activists, for example, have protested outside Fink’s home and BlackRock’s New York headquarters in recent years, calling for a divestment from fossil fuels.