Blackrock has set up a green slope climate change team

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BlackRock has become the latest financial institution to be bailed out by a major climate change industry group following the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and heightened regulatory scrutiny.

The world’s largest money manager said in a letter to institutional clients on Thursday that it was withdrawing from Net Zero Asset Managers, a voluntary global group that says it is “committed to achieving the goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner.”

NZAM membership “caused confusion. BlackrockAccording to a copy of the letter seen by the Financial Times, “the procedure and legal requirements from various government officials,” wrote vice chairman Philip Hildebrand.

All six of the largest US banks, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, have in recent weeks formed the same group for banks’ Net-Zero Banking Alliance.

In the year In 2020, BlackRock came under sustained attack from conservative US politicians after it took the position that “climate risk is an investment risk”. The 11.5tn fund manager is using its large holdings to push the climate movement and other US companies into “active capitalism”, sparking lawsuits, regulatory demands and boycotts.

“This withdrawal really only reflects what they said in 2020 and 2021,” said Tracy Lewis, head of climate policy at Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group. “Today, the truth is coming out because all these companies are trying to please the incoming administration.”

11 at the end of last year Republican-led states sued BlackrockAlleging that Vanguard and State Street conspire to limit coal supply and advance a “destructive, politicized environmental agenda.” Federal banks and energy watchdogs have launched inquiries into whether big money managers are meeting regulatory requirements to qualify as passive investors.

At the same time, progressive groups have been increasingly critical of the money manager’s position that the financial needs of their clients should come first unless investors demand that sustainability be prioritized.

BlackRock’s support for shareholder proposals Environmental and social issues It dropped from 47 percent in 2021 to 4 percent last year.

BlackRock has tried to thread the needle on this issue at times, as it has a large group of clients in Europe who want to make rapid progress on climate change.

Last year, he took a middle ground on another climate body, Climate Action 100+, an investor group that pushes companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions. He left the group as an international entity, but remained a member of its junior international arm.

Vanguard Leave NZAM More than a year ago, while still a member of State Street. Bond giant Pimco and Goldman Sachs’ asset management arm never merged.

In the letter, BlackRock said its exit from NZAM will not change the way we develop products and solutions for clients or how we manage their portfolios. BlackRock’s active portfolio managers continue to assess material climate-related risks alongside other investment risks.

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