According to Reuters, American international investment firm BlackRock has assured the UK Parliament’s House of Commons Environmental Audit Select Committee that it will continue to invest in gas, oil, and coal.
To reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are the primary causes of the climate problem, investments in fossil fuels must be stopped and a shift toward low-carbon and renewable energy sources must be made.
The largest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, stated that its job in the transition is to act as a fiduciary to its clients rather than to manufacture a specific decarbonization outcome in the actual economy, according to OilPrice.com.
According to Reuters, BlackRock’s letter was one of several written comments from businesses to the parliamentary committee that was posted on the website of the UK government. The committee is examining how financial organizations might help the UK achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
As a participant in the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, BlackRock was questioned by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) over its transitions to net zero (GFANZ). According to Proactive Group Holdings, the company’s response contrasted with its support of the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) standards of the companies it invests in, which caused some of its clients to respond negatively.
According to Reuters, the responses included remarks from GFANZ supporters from the UK. The organization has 500 members from more than 45 countries and claims to be the largest collaboration of financial institutions in the world devoted to the global economic transition to carbon neutrality.
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BlackRock has a market value of $85.65 billion and manages assets worth around $8 trillion.
Recently, certain Republican-governed U.S. states have voiced their dissatisfaction with BlackRock’s ESG investment techniques and threatened to withhold their state’s support from the firm’s management. According to OilPrice.com, Utah, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Louisiana have all divested more than $1 billion from BlackRock.
According to Reuters, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has defended the company’s use of fossil fuels against a barrage of criticism from environmentalists.
Environmentalists have charged BlackRock for failing to pressure corporations with fossil fuel portfolios to make changes.
In carbon-intensive sectors, we anticipate continuing to invest over the long term on behalf of our customers, according to BlackRock, Proactive Group Holdings stated.
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The financial services firm HSBC has come under fire from environmentalists as well for claiming that oil investments must continue. According to the corporation, abruptly abandoning coal will hurt developing economies that depend on it, like several in Asia.
First published on EcoWatch, the post The World’s Largest Asset Manager, BlackRock, Tells the UK It Won’t Stop Investing in Fossil Fuels.
