- Investor Watch -
Blackrock in voting action against directors of 53 companies over climate risks
Published July 17, 2020
The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, has voted against the re-election of the directors of around 50 companies as a result of their failure to address the risks of climate change.
According to Cityam, the company took action at the annual meetings of 53 companies. The companies punished included German carmaker Daimler, Volvo and ExxonMobil.
Blackrock says it will take similar action next year against the directors of another 191 companies “if they do not make substantial progress” on the issue.
Blackrock has warned that climate change poses an unprecedented risk to markets and announced it would put environmental strategy at the core of its investment strategy.
The warning came shortly after Blackrock was criticised for failing to support climate change resolutions at two oil companies and for voting against proposals to set targets in line with the Paris agreement.
Describing the change in policy, Fink said: “Climate change is different. Even if only a fraction of the projected impacts is realised, this is a much more structural, long-term crisis…Our approach on climate issues, in particular, is to focus our efforts on sectors and companies where climate change poses the greatest material risk to our clients’ investments.”
