The world’s largest money manager, BlackRock Inc, voted against a resolution calling for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to stop financing new fossil fuel projects.
Reuters mention that “CBA’s largest shareholder said it opposed the resolution, which also asked the bank to publish targets to cut its fossil fuel exposures consistent with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, because it was overly prescriptive.”
“It risks unduly constraining management’s ability to make business decisions,” BlackRock have stated.
Jack Bertolus of activist group Market Forces commented that the lack of support for the resolution was a perfect example of an asset manager failing to live up to its own net zero commitments.
In total BlackRock accounts make up a huge $32 trillion of total assets supporting groups that have declared commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. These include the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change in Europe and the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment.
Reuters go on to state that the resolution was backed by just 14% of voting shareholders of Australia’s biggest lender at an annual meeting on Wednesday (Oct 13th). This comes just before the United Nations’ COP26 climate talks in Glasgow later this month, where Australia can expect to be put under pressure regarding their carbon emissions.
Source: Reuters
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