Says the company’s fossil fuel investments are escalating the climate crisis
Ballsbridge, Dublin, Mon 27th February, 12pm: As the first step in its nonviolent civil-disobedience 2023 campaign, Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) have taken action against the world's largest asset management company, BlackRock, at the Ballsbridge offices of its Irish subsidiary - to demand that BlackRock stops all new investment in fossil fuels. Activists blocked the main entrance of the building and displayed a banner with the message “BlackRock Divest from Fossil Fuel Ecocide”.
As of December 2021, BlackRock, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company manages a staggering $10 trillion of other people's money. That’s more than the gross domestic product of every country in the world, except for the US and China. Among the 30 major global asset management companies active in Europe, BlackRock has the largest holdings ($133,466,000) in major oil and gas companies engaged in expansion projects. The company is also the joint biggest bondholder of coal companies with expansion plans.
To coincide with this action, Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) have released an ‘Address to the Nation’. In this video, the group calls on the public to join them in the fight against the climate crisis and demand the change needed.
“The fact that new investments are still being made in fossil fuels at this stage of the climate crisis is obscene. BlackRock is actively profiting from a business that is destroying our collective future. Millions of people are already suffering from extreme weather events & food and water scarcity caused by their greed and short-sightedness. Meanwhile, BlackRock's profits have been rising year on year” said UCD student and XRI activist Sineaid Whelan.
“Every tenth of a degree of warming matters in this climate crisis” said Manuel Salazar from XRI, adding, “We are in a critical time window now where we must urgently act to avoid a level of warming that leads to the worst case scenarios of climate catastrophe. And we can’t just stand by and allow giant, wealthy corporations like BlackRock to jeopardise our chances.”
The activists also wanted to draw attention to “BlackRock’s blatant greenwashing and hypocrisy”, as Sineaid Whelan put it. Blackrock is a member of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and Climate Action 100+, an investor-led initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change. It is also a member of Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. However, as recently as October, 2022, in a statement to a British parliamentary committee, the company blatantly stated that it will not stop investing in coal, oil and gas. When asked by the committee about its policy on its fossil fuel holdings, BlackRock told the UK committee that it “expected to remain long-term investors on behalf of clients in carbon-intensive sectors”. A recent ShareAction report found that BlackRock voted against 88% of shareholder resolutions on climate change and climate-related lobbying in 2019/2020. BlackRock has the second worst voting record on climate proposals among the 37 CA100+ companies included in this report.
“Their membership of these groups would lead you to believe that BlackRock cares about stopping the funding of the fossil fuels that are driving climate change. But no, they are trying to have their cake and eat it - appearing on the one hand to care, but when it comes right down to it, refusing to pull the plug on fossil fuel investments. We must stand up to this duplicity.” said protestor Angela Deegan, a retired I.T. worker.
Protest participant and TCD student, Emer Connolly, stated “With this action, we are demanding a stop to the madness that is investing in fossil fuels”, adding “Governments, fossil fuel companies, and investors in fossil fuel companies must all be held to account if we’re to succeed in slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Extinction Rebellion regularly protests the Irish Government’s lack of adequate climate policies and poor enforcement of climate regulations and demands that fossil fuel companies change their business models away from fossil fuel extraction. With this action today, we’re now holding the biggest investor in fossil fuels to account.” Indeed, following pressure from protests by environmental groups around the world, in 2020, BlackRock agreed to dump certain thermal coal shares from its actively managed portfolios.
XRI demands the following of BlackRock Asset Management:
Make fossil fuel expansion a redline in your investment and engagement policies and strategies.
Establish time-bound demands for fossil fuel companies to stop developing new coal, oil and gas projects, phase down production and adopt short term absolute emission reduction targets.
Announce sanctions and exclusions for companies that choose not to respond to these demands.
XRI appeal to BlackRock employees:
Challenge your employer from the inside to meet the demands above and protect the environment.
Organise Walk Outs and raise your voices from the inside.
Assess your pensions and move away from investments that contribute to the climate crisis.
“Investment in fossil fuels is not only short-sighted but also misses investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector,” said activist and Administrative Assistant, Cría Barry, “If you have savings or pension investments, make sure you ask questions about where they are invested. Asset management companies like BlackRock must stop bankrolling the climate and biodiversity crises. We cannot allow greed for short term profits to be prioritised over the planet’s viability for human and non-human life. There’s no life on a black rock”
XRI rebels Pavels and Sineaid block the front doors of BlackRock, Ballsbridge
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