NYC's Lander Recommends Dropping $42 Billion BlackRock Mandate
Bloomberg - Gift Link
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is urging three of the citys pension funds to drop BlackRock Inc. because of inadequate climate plans, the latest move to penalize investment firms for failing to tackle global warming.
The guidance to reject BlackRock, the citys largest money manager overseeing $42.3 billion of index funds for the pensions, follows a review of the firms efforts to press companies to decarbonize. Lander said Wednesday hes also asking plan trustees to terminate much smaller mandates with Fidelity Investments and PanAgora Asset Management.
BlackRock has scaled back climate engagement in ways that put our investments at risk needlessly, Lander said in a phone interview. Climate risk is financial risk. You can see it all around you in increased number of flash floods and wildfires.
In response, BlackRock Managing Director Armando Senra wrote in a letter to Lander that he is alleging that the firm is abdicating its financial duty and putting New York Citys pensions at risk. These statements are another instance of the politicization of public pension funds, which undermines the retirement security of hardworking New Yorkers.