BlackRock to Continue Engaging with Companies on Climate Strategy, Emissions Targets
Investment giant BlackRock announced the release of its Engagement Priorities for 2023, outlining the key themes identified by the firm as sources of material risk or opportunity that will form the focus of its engagements with companies this year.
The release of the engagement priorities follows several months of pressure BlackRock, who, as the largest global investment management company and a leading voice in the investment community on climate change and energy transition-related investment themes, has found itself at the center of a vocal anti-ESG movement by Republican politicians in the U.S., who have accused the firm of pushing a social agenda on companies, or of “boycotting” and working to harm energy companies.
Despite the political pressure, however, the engagement priorities released by BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) remain largely unchanged from the prior year, and continue to include in sustainability-focused topics in its key themes, including “Climate and natural capital,” and “Company impacts on people,” alongside other priority topics including “Board quality and effectiveness,” “Strategy, purpose, and financial resilience,” and “Incentives aligned with financial value creation.”
