BlackRock Announcement Huge Win for the Environmental Movement

Larry Fink, CEO of money management firm BlackRock, announced today that the company would prioritize mitigating the climate crisis in its decision-making on future investments and strategies.

Though it’s impossible to know the precise cause for this abrupt change in direction for the world’s largest investment firm (assets ~$7 trillion), it is certainly in line with the pressure applied by climate activists.  350 Action co-founder Bill McKibben, wrote: “This is a massive victory for a small band of fighters, (and) it gives us enormous confidence as we take on the giant banks.”

Mr. Fink’s language makes his thinking less than completely clear.  Yes, there is a perception of duty here, but is that duty to take care of the planet, or to protect investors from overpriced deals in a world where environmentally noxious products will soon see precipitous declines in their value?

Does it matter?  Let’s take that up in a separate post.