When some asset owners lead the way in changing asset managers' climate practices

The document highlights a trend in 2025 where some European and North American asset owners began withdrawing mandates from asset managers like BlackRock and State Street due to inadequate climate strategies. It criticizes large asset managers for continuing massive investments in fossil fuel developers and calls for asset owners to implement clear climate selection criteria and escalation strategies to force a transition away from fossil fuels.

• Large asset managers continue to provide significant financial support to fossil fuel developers; a study of 30 managers found investments of at least $16.9 billion in recently issued bonds from the largest developers, with firms like BlackRock and Amundi increasing these investments year-on-year.
• In 2025, several asset owners took the step of withdrawing mandates from asset managers over sustainability concerns, including Dutch pension funds PFZW and PME (from BlackRock), the UK's The People's Pension and Denmark's Akademiker Pension (from State Street), and France's Préfon, which delisted 13 funds including one from BlackRock.
• Some asset owners are implementing proactive climate criteria for selecting managers, such as the French insurer MAIF, which refuses new investments with managers lacking a thermal coal phase-out strategy by 2030, and the New York City pension fund controller, who published a list of climate expectations for new appointments.
• Collective actions by asset owners have increased, including a coalition representing £1.5 trillion in investments calling for robust engagement strategies in February 2025, and 17 US Democrat state finance officials asking managers to reaffirm climate risk commitments in August.

APA

Masson, A. (2026). When some asset owners lead the way in changing asset managers' climate practices. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/03/13/when-some-asset-owners-lead-the-way-in-changing-asset-managers-climate-practices/

Chicago

Masson, Agathe. When some asset owners lead the way in changing asset managers' climate practices. Reclaim Finance, 2026. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/03/13/when-some-asset-owners-lead-the-way-in-changing-asset-managers-climate-practices/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Masson |first1=Agathe |title=When some asset owners lead the way in changing asset managers' climate practices |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=13 March 2026 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/03/13/when-some-asset-owners-lead-the-way-in-changing-asset-managers-climate-practices/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{masson2026when, author = {Masson, Agathe}, title = {{When some asset owners lead the way in changing asset managers' climate practices}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2026/03/13/when-some-asset-owners-lead-the-way-in-changing-asset-managers-climate-practices/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }