In January, BlackRock made a big PR splash saying it wants companies to set rigorous targets to tackle climate change and that it would start exercising its shareholder power to push companies to do so.
With 'AGM season' coming up fast it's time for BlackRock to follow through on its rhetoric. Big polluters like BP and Shell and major fossil fuel funders like Barclays and HSBC all have major pro-climate resolutions on the table and BlackRock is a major shareholder in each of these companies.
Today, 23 organisations released the following open letter to BlackRock's European leadership telling them to follow through on their climate commitments.
Keep your word, BlackRock: use your power and vote to save our climate at upcoming AGMs.
Dear European BlackRock Executives,
You’ve said you want companies to set rigorous targets to tackle climate chaos. Now, with AGM season coming up, it’s time to follow through.
If a company doesn’t have a clear climate plan – including ambitious emissions reduction with short and medium term targets, and without reliance on offsets – your default position must be to vote against corporate boards and in favour of pro-climate resolutions.
Energy companies that are still expanding fossil fuel extraction, five years after the Paris Agreement, have made it clear that they are not part of the energy transition that science says is needed. Excluding those companies from your portfolios now will show other climate laggards that your pledge to take your climate responsibility seriously is more than just an empty promise.
You’ve said you’ll vote for climate resolutions and against boards without rigorous targets in place. The climate resolutions at HSBC, Barclays, Shell, and BP are just four examples of votes this season where you must turn your words into action. These companies have nothing close to a resilient climate plan. Voting with management will be working against progress, science, and your own clients.
The world is watching to see if your climate commitments are real or just more words.
Signed,
Amazon Watch
Bank On Our Future
BankTrack
Both ENDS
BreakFree Switzerland
Campax Switzerland
Climate Alliance Switzerland
Change Finance
Codepink
Corporate Europe Observatory
Debt Observatory in Globalisation (ODG)
Ecology Club, Finland
ethecon Foundation Ethics & Economy
Fossil-free Switzerland
Fund Our Future
Market Forces
Reclaim Finance
Sierra Club
Show Me Finance
SumOfUs
Urgewald
Zukunft statt Kohle / Future instead of coal
350 Plattsburgh
350 Kingston Hudson Valley
Zukunftskonvent, Germany
Coordination against BAYER-Dangers (CBG), Germany
