BlackRock Backs Fewer Climate, Social Shareholder Proposals
- Asset manager supported 7% of climate change, social proposals
- Firm called many environmental proposals ‘unduly prescriptive’
BlackRock headquarters in New York, US, on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
BlackRock Inc. backed fewer shareholder proposals on environmental and social issues over the past year as it stressed its commitment to the energy industry and navigated a debate over ESG investing.
The asset manager supported 26 of 399 — or almost 7% — of proposals related to climate change and social issues in the 12 months ended June 30, down from 22% in the same period a year earlier, BlackRock said Wednesday in a report. Many shareholder proposals have become “unduly prescriptive,” seek to “micromanage” executives and fail to acknowledge companies’ responses to climate change, including their disclosure of greenhouse-gas emissions, according to BlackRock.