By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is disappointed that the world's biggest asset manager, BlackRock BLK.N, has left a global initiative to combat climate change, his spokesperson said on Friday, urging other companies to "stay the course."
The move came under pressure from Republican politicians. BlackRock, which manages some $11.5 trillion, said that its membership "caused confusion regarding BlackRock's practices and subjected us to legal inquiries from various public officials."
Under the voluntary Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) had pledged to support the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, using influence such as how it votes proxies at corporate meetings.
"The decision by BlackRock is disappointing especially given the critical role the private sector, and especially asset managers, have to play in combatting the existential threat of climate change," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
"We encourage those companies that remain in the Net Zero alliance and other such initiatives to stay the course and continue their efforts to be active in the fight against the devastating impact of climate change," he said.
Blackrock said its decision to leave the initative "does not change the way we develop products and solutions for clients or how we manage their portfolios." It said its active portfolio managers "continue to assess material climate-related risks."
"We say climate change is an existential threat and it's not just words," Dujarric said. "We're seeing the impact of it and the devastation of it around the world.
"Countries rich and poor are being impacted. No one is safe, and it is encumbered, obviously on governments, ... but also on the private sector and the money and the investments that they manage," he said.
2024 was the hottest year on record, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday, and the first in which temperatures exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial times - a threshold that may lead to more severe climate disasters.