Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Blackrock chief: ‘How Covid could help save the planet’

Blackrock chief: ‘How Covid could help save the planet’

The pandemic has exacted a terrible toll on human life and livelihoods. It is hard to see how anything that could possibly be described as positive could come out of such a devastating crisis.

But the world's biggest money manager suggests there may be one.

Blackrock manages $8.7 trillion dollars of savers' money. It is probably the most influential financial firm in the world.

Larry Fink, the chief executive of Blackrock, in his annual letter to the bosses of all the companies in which that colossal sum is invested, says the pandemic could ultimately help in the fight against an even greater crisis.

"I believe that the pandemic has presented such an existential crisis - such a stark reminder of our fragility - that it has driven us to confront the global threat of climate change more forcefully and to consider how, like the pandemic, it will alter our lives."

Sustainable investments


He argues this is not just talk: you can measure it and that it has accelerated a re-allocation of global capital towards environmentally sustainable businesses.

When the pandemic hit, investors ran to the hills. They dumped their shareholdings and turned them into cash. The Dow Jones index of the biggest companies in the US lost 10,000 points, nearly a third, in a matter of days.



The stock market has rebounded as investors look hopefully to a post-pandemic world - their moods enhanced by enormous amounts of emergency financial drugs such as money printing and massive government borrowing and spending.

But when the investors came out of the hills they came down a different route - investing in different companies than they ones they used to own. Larry Fink notes that investors pumped $288bn globally in sustainable assets, a 96% increase over the whole of 2019.

Managing people's money is not a camp fire sing song. You need to deliver results or the pension funds will take their money elsewhere.

Here again, Larry Fink insists you don't have to sacrifice a good return for a clean planet and a clear conscience. The value of companies with better environmental, social and governance profiles increased faster than others during 2020.

A lot of this may be dismissed as "greenwash" - tokenistic attempts on the part of businesses to keep the money coming.

Changing attitudes


It's also true that Blackrock invests hundreds of billions in "index trackers", which mean they will have a holding in a company as long as it is in a big global index - like the FTSE 100, which is chock a block with oil, gas and mining companies from which an independent sustainable investor would recoil.

Some of the sustainable investment outperformance may also be due to it being the new look you have to copy to look current.



However, all businesses go bust unless they go where their customers tell them to go. Last week, the Church of England dumped shares in FTSE stalwart BP despite the new bosses pledges to make the energy company carbon neutral by 2050.

Big UK money managers like Legal & General and Aviva have their own lists of companies they will not invest in, and report that investing attitudes on the part of their customers are moving fast.

It has proved irresistible for governments around the world to promise they will "build back better" - it may also prove hard to resist the yearning to return to what we had before - and if cheap oil for example helps us do that then so be it.

But when the man with the $9 trillion purse strings speaks direct to company chief executives, they tend to listen. And Larry Fink says the pandemic has kicked in a window that was already ajar - a chance for capitalism to reappraise where its headed.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×