Fund giant BlackRock issues stewardship playbook as a proxy-season test and SEC rulings loom
Rachel Koning Beals, 18 March 2020
Fund giant BlackRock has released its stewardship playbook, a rough plan that furthers the industry-rattling pledge for sustainability from its leader Larry Fink earlier this year.
BlackRock, which manages some $7.4 trillion, claims its size allows it to more thoroughly engage with the companies it invests in. Its Wednesday release laid out its corporate engagement priorities for the year. The next shareholder proxy season looms in early April, which will test BlackRock’s commitment to stewardship. Proxies are one process by which shareholders push boards to take actions, and they’ve long divided powerful investors from the less powerful. Among other issues, environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics tend to feature in proxies.
“BlackRock approaches investment stewardship in a strategic, differentiated way,” said Barbara Novick, co-founder and vice chairman of BlackRock, in a release. “We have the capacity to engage companies year-round in meaningful discussions on the specific steps they should be taking to manage long-term risks and opportunities, including increasingly material sustainability issues.”
