With over $6 trillion in capital under management (as of March 2020), BlackRock is the world’s leading investor in fossil fuels, providing the companies most responsible for the climate crisis continued investment capital to grow.

Due to its scale, BlackRock is usually the largest or second-largest single shareholder in many of the biggest companies making the climate crisis worse. A company that claims to be a sustainable investment leader should not be investing in these climate and human rights disasters.

From pipelines to coal mines, Arctic drilling to Amazon forest destruction, behind most of the biggest climate fights on the planet today, you will usually find BlackRock as one of the key backers.

BlackRock makes statements — but doesn’t take action

In January 2020, under pressure from a growing global campaign, BlackRock introduced its first ever policy to address its role as the world’s biggest investor in coal. While this is a notable first step, if you look closely you’ll see this coal exclusion policy applies to less than 20% of the global coal industry.

That’s simply not enough to tackle the problem of coal emissions, let alone oil and gas which BlackRock has done next to nothing about. And while the company made a nice sounding statement about agribusiness related to deforestation, it has made no actual commitments on changing its investments in the industries driving deforestation in the Amazon and globally.

What is BlackRock’s Big Problem?

BlackRock has shown that it can change and claims that it wants to change the financial sector to be more sustainable, but we need to hold BlackRock accountable to its promises and raise the bar on what leadership looks like.Now more than ever we must make sure BlackRock backs its initial promises with action, and expands its commitments to truly live up to what is needed for a liveable, thriving climate.

  • BlackRock is still the largest investor in both new coal plant development and existing coal reserves worldwide
  • It remains one of the world’s largest investors in oil and gas companies
  • It continues to be the largest investor in companies driving deforestation in critical ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest

    • Join the CAMPAIGN

    We’re going to keep the pressure on until Chase completely stops funding the climate crisis.
    Sign up to stay informed about our work.

    Are you part of an organization looking to join the Chase Campaign as a coalition member? Email the campaign coordinator.