贝莱德创始人警告企业高管：要认真对待净零排放目标
拉里·芬克是全球最大资产管理公司贝莱德（BlackRock）的首席执行官，眼下他正在大力推行融合气候风险的投资战略。他告诉贝莱德投资的各家公司首席执行官，希望各公司明确如何实现净零排放目标。
芬克在1月26日发表的年度公开信中表示，贝莱德投资的公司需要详细说明如何在长期战略之中体现零排放目标，以及董事会如何审查与衡量。
贝莱德在致客户的信中警告称，将对碳排放高且达不到零排放目标的公司采取行动。具体来说采取哪些措施？公司将利用身为股东的影响力，投票反对指数投资组合里碳排放进展落后的企业，也有可能在积极管理的投资组合中删除相关企业。
此次距离芬克写下“气候风险就是投资风险”已经有一年时间，芬克表示，新冠疫情并没有影响企业对气候风险的关注，相反，“资本重新配置的速度比我预期的还要快。”他还将气候变化称为“历史性的投资机会”。
事实上，与“可持续性发展”相关的投资已经迅速壮大。他说，从2020年1月到11月，全球共同基金和交易所交易基金的投资者向“可持续”资产共投入2880亿美元，与2019年全年相比增长了96%。
贝莱德还表示，全球有代表性的可持续指数基金中，今年有81%的基金业绩高过基准，特别是2020年年初动荡的几个月时间里。《财富》杂志在去年10月的报道称，贝莱德自家的可持续能源基金（贝莱德全球基金的子基金）表现最好， 2020年总回报率为50.42%。
以可持续发展为核心
2020年出现了一波新的投资产品。贝莱德表示，去年共推出93个“可持续解决方案”，吸引资金390亿美元，可持续发展资产同比增长41%。该公司还推出阿拉丁气候（Aladdin Climate）工具，帮助投资者评估投资组合中的气候风险。
去年1月，芬克发表声明称，贝莱德将重新评估自身投资策略，把可持续性发展作为投资组合和风险管理的核心，退出热煤生产商等投资。管理8.7万亿美元资产的贝莱德由此迎来分水岭，华尔街也进入关键转折，标志着投资者对气候变化风险看法的转变。在疫情的干扰下，这一声明确实开启了对企业和国家来说具有里程碑意义的一年，从日本到荷兰皇家壳牌（Royal Dutch Shell）都承诺到2050年实现零排放目标。
然而，相关承诺都有些夸大而且缺乏细节，尤其是近期规划不足。过去一年，贝莱德的战略也不断受到抨击，特别是在代理投票季之后。期间贝莱德在持有大量股份的公司年度股东大会上，多次投票反对气候变化决议。批评人士认为，贝莱德是个典型的例子，充分说明了雄心勃勃的长期承诺与近期切实的行动之间存在的巨大差距。去年12月，该公司表示2021年将加大支持股东关于气候问题的决议。
芬克信里还谈到过去一年的其他挑战，如：疫情对经济造成破坏、种族不平等引发的抗议，以及美国前总统特朗普向拜登总统移交权力引发的政治动荡。芬克还敦促企业将多样性和包容性纳入人才战略，并告诉投资者要从环境、社会和公司治理（ESG）更全面的领域关注企业的“目标”，可以提升投资业绩。
不过，他表示，对客户来说，气候变化仍然是首要考虑的问题。芬克写道：“在客户的重点关注事项方面，没有哪个比气候变化更重要。他们几乎每天都会问及此事。”（财富中文网）
译者：晓维
审校：夏林
拉里·芬克是全球最大资产管理公司贝莱德（BlackRock）的首席执行官，眼下他正在大力推行融合气候风险的投资战略。他告诉贝莱德投资的各家公司首席执行官，希望各公司明确如何实现净零排放目标。
芬克在1月26日发表的年度公开信中表示，贝莱德投资的公司需要详细说明如何在长期战略之中体现零排放目标，以及董事会如何审查与衡量。
贝莱德在致客户的信中警告称，将对碳排放高且达不到零排放目标的公司采取行动。具体来说采取哪些措施？公司将利用身为股东的影响力，投票反对指数投资组合里碳排放进展落后的企业，也有可能在积极管理的投资组合中删除相关企业。
此次距离芬克写下“气候风险就是投资风险”已经有一年时间，芬克表示，新冠疫情并没有影响企业对气候风险的关注，相反，“资本重新配置的速度比我预期的还要快。”他还将气候变化称为“历史性的投资机会”。
事实上，与“可持续性发展”相关的投资已经迅速壮大。他说，从2020年1月到11月，全球共同基金和交易所交易基金的投资者向“可持续”资产共投入2880亿美元，与2019年全年相比增长了96%。
贝莱德还表示，全球有代表性的可持续指数基金中，今年有81%的基金业绩高过基准，特别是2020年年初动荡的几个月时间里。《财富》杂志在去年10月的报道称，贝莱德自家的可持续能源基金（贝莱德全球基金的子基金）表现最好， 2020年总回报率为50.42%。
以可持续发展为核心
2020年出现了一波新的投资产品。贝莱德表示，去年共推出93个“可持续解决方案”，吸引资金390亿美元，可持续发展资产同比增长41%。该公司还推出阿拉丁气候（Aladdin Climate）工具，帮助投资者评估投资组合中的气候风险。
去年1月，芬克发表声明称，贝莱德将重新评估自身投资策略，把可持续性发展作为投资组合和风险管理的核心，退出热煤生产商等投资。管理8.7万亿美元资产的贝莱德由此迎来分水岭，华尔街也进入关键转折，标志着投资者对气候变化风险看法的转变。在疫情的干扰下，这一声明确实开启了对企业和国家来说具有里程碑意义的一年，从日本到荷兰皇家壳牌（Royal Dutch Shell）都承诺到2050年实现零排放目标。
然而，相关承诺都有些夸大而且缺乏细节，尤其是近期规划不足。过去一年，贝莱德的战略也不断受到抨击，特别是在代理投票季之后。期间贝莱德在持有大量股份的公司年度股东大会上，多次投票反对气候变化决议。批评人士认为，贝莱德是个典型的例子，充分说明了雄心勃勃的长期承诺与近期切实的行动之间存在的巨大差距。去年12月，该公司表示2021年将加大支持股东关于气候问题的决议。
芬克信里还谈到过去一年的其他挑战，如：疫情对经济造成破坏、种族不平等引发的抗议，以及美国前总统特朗普向拜登总统移交权力引发的政治动荡。芬克还敦促企业将多样性和包容性纳入人才战略，并告诉投资者要从环境、社会和公司治理（ESG）更全面的领域关注企业的“目标”，可以提升投资业绩。
不过，他表示，对客户来说，气候变化仍然是首要考虑的问题。芬克写道：“在客户的重点关注事项方面，没有哪个比气候变化更重要。他们几乎每天都会问及此事。”（财富中文网）
译者：晓维
审校：夏林
Larry Fink, the chief executive of the world's largest asset manager, is doubling down on a strategy of integrating climate risks into investing, telling his fellow CEOs he expects companies in which BlackRock invests to make clear how they will achieve their net zero emissions goals.
In his annual letter published on January 26, Fink also said that the companies would need to lay out how exactly such a target is incorporated within their long-term strategies, and how it will be reviewed and measured by individual boards.
In an accompanying letter to clients, BlackRock warned it would take action against those companies that have a high carbon intensity, and which do not align with its own net zero goals. In such a case, what's the proverbial stick BlackRock would be wielding? It would use its shareholder clout to vote against the management of those laggard firms in its index portfolio-held shares, or it would drop the companies entirely from its actively managed portfolios.
One year after Fink wrote that "climate risk is investment risk," the executive said that the COVID-19 pandemic had not distracted companies from climate risk, and instead, "the reallocation of capital accelerated even faster than I anticipated." He also framed the climate transition as a "historic investment opportunity."
Indeed, investing tied to "sustainability" has quickly become big business. From January to November 2020, investors in mutual funds and ETFs poured $288 worldwide into 'sustainable' assets, he said—an increase of 96% over all of 2019.
The company also said that 81% of a globally representative selection of sustainable indexes funds had outperformed benchmarks over the course of the year, particularly during the rocky early months of 2020. BlackRock's own BGF Sustainable Energy Fund was a top performer, as Fortune reported in October—over 2020, its total return was 50.42%.
Sustainability at its core
2020 brought a wave of new investment products: BlackRock said it had launched 93 "sustainable solutions" last year, drawing in $39 billion and increasing its own sustainable assets by 41% year-on-year. The company also launched a tool, Aladdin Climate, to help investors assess the amount of climate risk in their portfolios.
Fink's statement last January that BlackRock would reassess its own investing strategy, make sustainability central to its portfolios and risk management, and exit investments including thermal coal producers, was touted as a watershed moment for the $8.7 trillion asset manager, and for Wall Street. It signaled a shift in how the risks of climate change are viewed by investors, and indeed, amid the distractions of the pandemic, it kicked off a year of landmark commitments by companies and countries—from Japan to Royal Dutch Shell—to target net zero emissions by 2050.
However, such commitments are still generally long on hyperbole and short on details, especially in the near-term. BlackRock, too, has come under fire repeatedly over the last year over its strategy, particularly after a proxy voting season in which the asset manager repeatedly voted against climate change resolutions at the annual general meetings of companies in which it holds large stakes. It was a classic example of what critics saw as a widespread gap between ambitious long-term pledges—and concrete, near-term action. In December, the company said it would back more shareholder resolutions on climate in 2021.
In his letter, Fink also spoke of other challenges over the past year, including the economic ravages of the pandemic, protests over racial inequality, and political turmoil over the transfer of power from former President Trump to President Biden. The executive also urged companies to integrate diversity and inclusion into their talent strategies, and told investors that focus on a company's "purpose," across the more general ESG spectrum, produced stronger results.
However, for clients, climate change was still top of mind, he said.
"No issue ranks higher than climate change in our clients' lists of priorities," Fink wrote. "They ask us about it nearly every day."
