A new scorecard finds large asset managers like BlackRock overwhelmingly fail to hold carbon-intensive companies accountable on climate change.
Asset managers like BlackRock, who are dominant owners of the global economy, have enormous leverage over the companies they hold major stakes in. Yet on one of the fastest growing areas of “climate finance”, which is to demand carbon-intensive industries disclose their climate risk and scenario-planning for the future, these big investors are failing to hold companies accountable.
That’s the findings of a new report analyzing the world’s thirteen largest asset managers’ U.S. proxy voting in carbon-intensive industries.
The largest asset managers in the study showed the least support for shareholder climate proposals—BlackRock and Vanguard supported only 23 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of climate proposals related to addressing climate change.
The report is the first study to take a comprehensive look at both climate-related and management proxy voting for U.S. utilities, oil and gas companies, as well as automakers including General Motors and Ford.
The full report is available on the 50/50 Climate Project website.
