How 13 Largest Asset Managers Vote on Climate Change

BlackRock may talk the talk when it comes to pushing sustainable investments, but does it walk the walk? Not really, compared with other large asset managers, finds a new Asset Manager Climate Scorecard by the 50/50 Climate Project. The recently released report lists how the 13 largest asset managers — each with more than $1 trillion in assets for the year ending December 2017 — voted on management proposals and shareholder climate proposals. This is the first study to take a comprehensive look at both climate-related and management proxy voting for U.S. utilities, oil and gas companies, as well as automakers, according to the 50/50 Climate Project. The gallery above provides a review of how asset managers have done thus far. Asset managers were ranked on how often they a) supported management proposals on director nominees, b) supported management proposals on executive compensation, c) supported shareholder proposals on climate change reporting, and d) supported shareholder proposals on political influence/expenditure disclosure. The good news, the study found, was there is a positive trend of increasing support for shareholder proposals on climate change and political influence disclosure. 50/50 Climate Project is a nonprofit that works to engage the 50 largest carbon footprint public companies to create effective long-term climate change strategies.