BlackRock joins Climate Action 100+ to ensure largest corporate emitters act on climate crisis

BlackRock has today become the latest signatory to Climate Action 100+, an unprecedented global investor engagement initiative, to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.

With the addition of the world’s largest asset manager, with more than $6.8 trillion USD in assets under management, Climate Action 100+ continues to grow in size and influence. BlackRock joins more than 370 global investors already participating in the initiative. The addition of funds it manages, brings total assets under management represented by investors participating in Climate Action 100+ to more than $41 trillion.

“BlackRock is one of the largest and most influential asset managers in the world and will bring even more heft to investor engagement through Climate Action 100+,” said Emily Chew current Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee Chair and Global Head of ESG Research and Integration at Manulife Investment Management. “We look forward to working with BlackRock to build on the initiative’s success and work to ensure companies take the urgent and necessary action needed in response to the climate crisis.”

As signatories, investors commit to engagement with companies, in seeking to ensure they:

• Take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain in line with the overarching goals of the Paris Agreement;

• Implement a strong governance framework which clearly articulates the board’s accountability and oversight of climate change risks and opportunities; and

• Provide enhanced corporate disclosure in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

161 companies are engaged through Climate Action 100+. This include 100 ‘systemically important emitters’, accounting for two-thirds of annual global industrial greenhouse emissions, alongside 61 others with significant opportunity to drive the clean energy transition.

“Climate change poses a systemic risk for investors, along with opportunities for industries to develop innovative solutions,” said Anne Simpson, member of the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee and Director of Board Governance and Strategy at CalPERS. “This is why we initiated the creation of Climate Action 100+, which is focused on engaging with companies to lower their carbon emissions and come into alignment with the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. CalPERS welcomes BlackRock as the newest signatory to Climate Action 100+. We look forward to the insights and expertise they bring to this important mission. We, along with the signatories of Climate Action 100+, will continue to work with the largest global emitters of greenhouse gases to limit global warming and protect our members’ assets to ensure we can pay benefits.”

“BlackRock’s decision to sign on to Climate Action 100+ reinforces that the world’s largest asset manager believes that climate change is a growing financial risk to both companies and the global economy," said Mindy Lubber, member of the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee and CEO and President at Ceres. “Given BlackRock’s size and influence, their commitment to accelerating engagements with the largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters on climate change sends a powerful signal to companies to reduce emissions, improve corporate governance and strengthen their disclosure. Climate Action 100+ has already had an enormous impact and generated ground-breaking net-zero emission targets from some of the highest-emitting companies around the world. With BlackRock’s commitment to the goals of the initiative, we will assuredly see more impactful results in tackling the global climate crisis.”

“The physical and economic threats of climate change have again been evident in the devastating and unprecedented bushfires raging across Australia,” said Emma Herd, member of the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee and CEO, Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC). “We need deeper and more urgent action from those companies who hold the key to making the zero emissions transition that will de-risk our economies and communities from climate change. This signal from the world’s largest asset manager that they expect companies to be cutting their emissions in line with the Paris Agreement is an important step towards this necessary transition.”

“With the world’s largest asset manager now joining Climate Action 100+, company boards should be under no illusion of the need to take action on climate change and reduce their emissions,” adds Stephanie Pfeifer, member of the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee and CEO, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC). “BlackRock joins over 370 other investors already involved in the initiative putting pressure on companies to commit to a net zero future and address climate risks.”

“BlackRock’s formal involvement in Climate Action 100+ will help accelerate the growing investor engagement with companies across Asia on climate change,” said Rebecca Mikula-Wright, member of the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee and Director, Asian Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC). “Having an asset manager of BlackRock’s size and influence join the initiative should put companies that ignore their responsibilities on notice. The reach of Climate Action 100+ across Asia will be significantly bolstered by this announcement.”

“In joining Climate Action 100+, BlackRock is responding to the demands of its asset owner clients and other groups globally that they take meaningful action to address climate change,” said Fiona Reynolds member of the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee and CEO, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).  “We welcome this recognition and look forward to BlackRock’s involvement in the largest ever investor engagement initiative designed to ensure that the largest emitters in the world act in accordance with the Paris Agreement to keep the world to 1.5 degrees of emissions.”

About Climate Action 100+

Climate Action 100+ is a five-year investor initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change. More than 370 investors with over $41 trillion in assets collectively under management are engaging companies on improving governance, curbing emissions and strengthening climate-related financial disclosures. The companies include 100 ‘systemically important emitters’, accounting for two-thirds of annual global industrial emissions, alongside more than 60 others with significant opportunity to drive the clean energy transition.  

Launched in December 2017, Climate Action 100+ is coordinated by five partner organisations: Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC); Ceres; Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC); Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). These organisations, along with five investor representatives from AustralianSuper, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), HSBC Global Asset Management, Ircantec and Manulife Asset Management, form the global Steering Committee for the initiative. For more information, visit: www.ClimateAction100.org and follow: @ActOnClimate100.