NEW YORK / BOSTON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Top U.S. asset

managers worried that signing up to an industry climate

initiative could make them appear to be working too closely

together and draw regulatory scrutiny, according to a report

released Friday by a Republican-led U.S. Congressional

Committee.

The report is the latest released by the panel's Republican

majority as part of a probe they say has shown fund firms and

activists are part of a "climate cartel" that colludes through

shareholder organizations pressing to cut emissions. The

committee's Democrats have dismissed those allegations.

Top fund firms have denied wrongdoing, but material cited in

the report shows they had always been concerned about appearing

too cozy with shareholder groups engaged in climate activism.

BlackRock's ( BLK ) view in 2019 was that "We don't do collective

action/engagements. Too risky," according to the report, citing

an e-mailed summary of a meeting that unidentified BlackRock ( BLK )

executives held with Ceres, a Boston-based environmental

advocacy group, obtained by the committee.

Likewise State Street also raised concerns around

2020 about "collusion" if it joined a Ceres-backed effort to

press companies to cut emissions known as the Climate Action

100+, according to the report. The firm worried about raising

the "perception of engaging or voting as a block," the report

states.

BlackRock ( BLK ) declined to comment. State Street and Ceres did

not immediately comment. Both wound up joining the group known

as the CA100+, then stepped back earlier this year citing

independence concerns.

Republican officials, many of them from oil and gas

producing states, have objected to investors coordinating to

pressure corporate management on climate issues at the expense

of corporate growth and returns.

Last month Republican attorneys general from 11 states sued

BlackRock ( BLK ), State Street and Vanguard, saying their climate

activism reduced coal production and boosted energy prices. The

firms collectively manage $26 trillion. BlackRock ( BLK ) and State

Street have denied wrongdoing, while Vanguard has declined to

comment on the matter.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump campaigned against

President Joe Biden's moves to fight climate change and promised

to boost U.S. oil and gas production. In theory Trump's

administration could follow up on the congressional committee's

findings. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment

on what if any talks it may have had with current or future

administrations.