Yahoo Finance World’s biggest investor turns up heat on banks over climate change
Bank bosses who finance fossil fuel firms are facing a revolt from the world's biggest investor amid mounting pressure over climate change.
BlackRock is preparing to take action against banks ahead of next year’s shareholder meetings and has drawn up a global watch list of 191 companies closely linked to global warming.
The firm – which looks after $6.5 trillion (£5.1 trillion) of savers' money – plans to rebel in future investor votes if businesses fail to improve.
This year it voted against the re-election of directors at the likes of Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, airline Lufthansa and oil giant ExxonMobil over a failure to make progress on how they report climate change risks.
Bosses are now planning to take aim at banks that stay silent over the role their funding plays in creating carbon emissions.
It comes as regulators increase their scrutiny of the industry over the climate, and activists take aim at Barclays' funding of fossil fuel firms.
BlackRock has warned company directors it will revolt at annual meetings if they fail to make progress on managing climate risk. It wants firms to disclose the impact of climate change on their business and how they plan to mitigate the threat.
A BlackRock report revealing the votes warned that the 191 firms on the watch list must make substantial progress before their annual meetings next year or risk incurring its wrath.
It said: "While we have already had conversations with a number of banks, we plan to increase these engagements over the next year."
The business took action against 53 firms at annual meetings this year over climate change, including London-listed miner Evraz. The majority were energy companies. Daimler vowed to adopt higher standards of climate risk reporting after suffering a revolt.
Blackrock has itself previously come under pressure from campaigners for failing to tackle the crisis, with activists demanding it uses its clout to bring about change.
The Bank of England is to become the first central bank to stress-test banks and insurers on how they will cope with climate change, but firms will not be named and shamed.
The Bank will reveal the systemic threat to the UK’s banking industry from global warming next year after companies report the risks they face and their plan to cope.
Barclays was targeted by climate activists over financing carbon emitters. Almost a quarter of shareholders backed a resolution that proposed phasing out funding for fossil fuel companies at this year’s annual general meeting.
However, the lender offered up an alternative resolution committing to cutting its carbon footprint to net zero by 2050. This was supported by 99.9pc of investors.
