By Charlie Conchie
The world’s biggest fund manager Blackrock has comfortably seen off a potential rebellion over its environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies today as the firm looks to take a passive role on climate issues.
The New York-based investment behemoth, which manages some $9.1trn in assets, said two shareholder resolutions raising climate concerns won less than 10 per cent of support from shareholders, while a third resolution from a conservative group that targeted Blackrock’s diversity policies won less than one per cent support.
One of the climate resolutions asked Blackrock to report on how it could improve pension fund client returns by focusing its stewardship efforts and proxy voting to “engineer decarbonisation in the real economy.”
Blackrock boss Larry Fink, who has insisted previously that pushing for specific climate outcomes is not the firm’s role, doubled down and said it was Blackrock’s job to act in its clients’ interests.
“We have clients who wish for that, but we also have clients who are not interested in that, and our job is to be working with our clients,” he said during the meeting.
Blackrock has faced criticism from both sides of the political debate on climate issues, with both liberal and conservative-leaning politicians and activists levelling criticism at the firm.
Late last year an activist investor and North Carolina’s state treasurer both separately called for Fink to step down, but he received backing as a director from top proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services.
The firm also faced pressure in the UK last year when it told a parliamentary committee that it would not stop investing in coal, oil and gas.
Fink had previously been a vocal voice on ESG concerns but has reined in his commentary in the past year. In his much-watched annual letter in 2020, Fink pointed to an aim for BlackRock’s actively managed portfolios to limit exposure to thermal coal.
The following year, he stressed that Blackrock expected the companies it invests in to have some sort of plan to decarbonise their businesses by 2050.
However, while Blackrock still backs these objectives, Fink did not mention ESG in the 2023 iteration. In the annual meeting today, BlackRock said each of its director nominees also received “well over a majority” of votes cast at the meeting, held online, and that 92 per cent supported the pay of chief exec Larry Fink and other leaders.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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