2030 Finance | March 16, 2017

BlackRock asks companies to report climate risks

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BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, put corporate boards on notice that it expects them “to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business” and how management is managing that risk.

Specifically, the world’s largest asset manager is encouraging companies, “in due course,” to follow the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, launched in December by Michael Bloomberg and Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England.

BlackRock is following State Street’s lead in demanding transparency in climate risk exposure from portfolio businesses.

The $5.1 trillion investment firm has come under fire for voting against environmental resolutions at shareholder meetings.

BlackRock says it prefers private meetings. “We can’t micromanage,” BlackRock’s Michelle Edkins told Reuters.

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