BlackRock lost $90bn on wasteful fossil fuel investments

Fund manager BlackRock lost around $90bn in the last ten years in wasteful fossil fuel investments said a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

BlackRock was accused of putting investors’ cash in jeopardy by ignoring the “serious financial risks” of climate change.

The report said that Blackrock severely eroded the value of the $6.5tn in monies put into its funds after betting on oil companies at a time when the sector was transitioning to cleaner energy sources.

The investments behind the losses included the world’s largest oil companies, such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP.

The fund manager was also stung by the collapse of big US fossil fuel companies such as General Electric and Peabody.

Tim Buckley, a director at IEEFA and co-author of the report, said BlackRock’s enormous financial heft meant it should take responsibility for leading on the climate emergency and it would eventually benefit the investment fund.

“BlackRock wields an enormous amount of influence and shoulders a huge responsibility to the wider community. It has the power to lead globally to address climate risk, yet, to date, it remains a laggard,” Buckley said.

BlackRock denied responsibility for its fossil fuel investments since it does not choose individual companies to back as the majority of its funds track investment indices which are controlled by third parties.

A spokesman for BlackRock said the fund manager offered clients the option to invest in environmentally and socially responsible funds as well. These funds made up 0.8% of BlackRock’s total portfolio.