“Awareness is rapidly changing, and I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance,” Fink wrote in the letter, obtained by The New York Times. “The evidence on climate risk is compelling investors to reassess core assumptions about modern finance.”
Fink’s annual missive “is closely watched, and in the 2020 edition he said BlackRock would begin to exit certain investments,” like coal producers, the Times says. “His intent is to encourage every company, not just energy firms, to rethink their carbon footprints.”
And since BlackRock is the world’s biggest asset manager, with US$7 trillion invested, “this move will fundamentally shift its investing policy—and could reshape how corporate America does business and put pressure on other large money managers to follow suit.”