Larry Fink's 2021 letter to CEOs
Companies, investors, and governments focus on the global goal of net zero emissions by 2050, an economic transformation is accelerating.
Larry Fink: We have some parts of the country that are very, very worried about what this transition will mean for their state, their locality, for their jobs. And so, this is not going to be an easy task. But I would say across the board, capital is moving, and it's going to move very rapidly. And I'm very proud that I can tell you right now; every hydrocarbon company in the United States is now focused on this whereas I would say three to four years ago, they weren't. They did not believe it. We are making change, and I would say we're making more rapid change because of Bill and other people who are expressing this openly.
Bill Gates: Well, the bulk of emissions in the decades ahead will come from developing countries. Let's think of it in three tiers. The rich countries: that's Europe, U.S., Japan. The middle income countries; that's where most of humanity lives. That's, you know, China on the high end – high middle income – and India on the low end. And you've got Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam, a lot of the world's population there. And then you have some very poor countries, a lot in Africa. The responsibility to innovate rests entirely on the rich countries, and particularly on the U.S., because the U.S. has the universities, the national labs; it's got the ability to organize risk-laden capital. We will not solve climate change without the rich world driving down dramatically. That will make it economic for the middle-income countries who are not responsible for the historic emissions and who are dealing with more basic needs.
Watch Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, and Bill Gates, Founder of Breakthrough Energy, discuss the complex challenge of reaching net zero emissions and how the transition will spur innovation and accelerate change.
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Last year, in January 2020, we published a letter setting out our ambitions for BlackRock to play a leadership role as a sustainable investor for our clients, on whose behalf we invest. I am delighted to say that, since then, we have delivered some good progress.
• Few highlights include that, today, all of our active and advisory strategies are ESG integrated – covering US$2.7 trillion in assets;
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Now, we’re in 2021, and we are pushing ahead once again. We have announced a set of actions that we are taking to help move our clients’ portfolios – and the Canadian and global economies – towards the crucial target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The net zero transition is an imperative for society and for the planet, and it will reshape the global economy, offering a number of exciting investment opportunities. This is an important moment for us all.
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