BlackRock’s Climate Failures: European Shareholder Season

A joint statement by Reclaim Finance, Urgewald, and BlackRock’s Big Problem criticizing BlackRock for voting in support of weak climate plans at Total and Shell during the 2021 European shareholder season, despite the firm's public rhetoric on climate risk.

• BlackRock's voting behavior during the 2021 European shareholder season contradicted its public commitments to take action against directors and support climate-based shareholder proposals.
• In an analysis of the top three European oil and gas majors, BlackRock voted in favor of a climate resolution for BP, but supported the climate plans of Total and Shell, which were rated as insufficient by the Climate Action 100+ benchmark.
• BlackRock's voting rationale prioritizes the limitation of short-term financial risks over the actual climate impacts of oil and gas expansion, leading it to support companies with plans incompatible with a net zero world.
• BlackRock maintains significant investments in fossil fuel expansion, including $24 billion in companies with coal expansion plans like Sumitomo and KEPCO, and over $110 billion in companies such as Total, Shell, and Eni.

APA

admin (2021). BlackRock’s Climate Failures: European Shareholder Season. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/14/blackrock-climate-failures-european-shareholder-season/

Chicago

admin. BlackRock’s Climate Failures: European Shareholder Season. Reclaim Finance, 2021. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/14/blackrock-climate-failures-european-shareholder-season/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=admin |title=BlackRock’s Climate Failures: European Shareholder Season |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=14 June 2021 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/14/blackrock-climate-failures-european-shareholder-season/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{admin2021blackrocks, author = {admin}, title = {{BlackRock’s Climate Failures: European Shareholder Season}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2021/06/14/blackrock-climate-failures-european-shareholder-season/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }