"Activists cheer BlackRock's landmark climate move but call for vigilance", 15 January 2020

The decision by BlackRock... to exit investments that “present a high sustainability-related risk” has been welcomed by environmentalists as a significant moment in the battle to reshape the relationship between money and the climate crisis... [L]eading climate science writer Bill McKibben [said]... “The steps BlackRock is taking are baby steps... we will have to... push hard for them to begin striding at the pace we need to go.... [C]oal is part of the problem, but not the biggest part of the problem – oil and gas are... Fink made noises that natural gas is part of the solution but it’s not... at least we’ve reached the point that they’ve realized they have a role in dealing with the climate crisis.”... A report last year by the Washington DC-based Majority Action and the Climate Majority Project claimed that BlackRock had voted overwhelmingly against key climate resolutions at energy companies, including ExxonMobil... Majority Action’s Eli Kasargod-Staub [said]... “BlackRock has the power to [say] ‘Either you commit to the science-based targets of the Paris climate agreement and align your operations, governance, political spending, lobby and trade association activities to achieve that target or we will vote against you and your directors...ExxonMobil or Marathon petroleum... have actively undermined our ability to protect long-term investors and meet the goals of the Paris agreement’”.