BlackRock holds $85 billion in coal investments despite Larry Fink's focus on climate change, report shows
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At least $85 billion of assets managed by BlackRock are invested in coal companies, according to a new report, a year after the world's largest asset manager pledged to dramatically reduce its exposure to polluters.
BlackRock's policies mean it can still invest in firms that make less than 25% of their revenues from coal, such as Glencore, and its indexing products leave it with heavy exposure to the industry, campaign groups Reclaim Finance and Urgewald said in a report published on Wednesday.
It comes a year after Fink said BlackRock would take a range of measures to position the company to help tackle climate change and to benefit from the low-carbon transition. They included "exiting investments that present a high sustainability-related risk, such as thermal coal producers"."If he really wants BlackRock to be a climate leader instead of a climate pariah, he needs to start aligning green words with green deeds, and direct BlackRock's awesome financial power towards a sustainable future. After the hottest year on record, the bare minimum for BlackRock is to get out of coal once and for all."
BlackRock argues that it has already taken major steps, such as divesting fully from firms that make 25% or more of their revenues from thermal coal. It also stresses that it offers the widest coverage of environmental, social, and corporate governance funds on the market and is transparent about which companies and sectors its indexes contain.However, the report highlighted how BlackRock's climate policies mean it does not have to divest from polluting companies with expansion plans. BlackRock holds $24 billion worth of investments in such companies, including Sumitomo and KEPCO, the report said.
The investment giant's indexes are also not covered by the policy. Index funds track certain
A BlackRock spokesperson said: "Our conviction is that climate risk is investment risk. Among the many initiatives to help our clients navigate this risk, we have both achieved 100% ESG integration in our active strategies.
"Across index strategies, we provide clients choice - through the industry's largest ESG index offering - as well as transparency and engagement.
"We ask all companies to disclose how their business model will be compatible with the transition to a low-carbon economy. Where we do not see sufficient progress, we take voting action."Copyright © 2021. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.
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