BlackRock Investment Stewardship

BlackRock's Investment Stewardship team is core to BlackRock's role as a fiduciary and asset manager. As stewards of our clients' assets, we are committed to constructive, long-term-focused engagement with the companies our clients are invested in.

Supporting long-term financial value creation

Investment Stewardship is part of how BlackRock fulfils its fiduciary responsibility to our clients to advance their long-term economic interests. We do this through engaging with the companies our clients are invested in, voting proxies for those clients who have given us authority, and encouraging sound corporate governance and business practices as an informed, engaged investor. In our experience, companies that effectively manage material risks and opportunities in their business models, including those related to sustainability, are better positioned to deliver durable, long-term financial performance. High standards of corporate governance, and strong boardroom and executive leadership, enable companies to be resilient and adaptable through macroeconomic and societal challenges that can impact their financial performance over time.

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Engaging
How we build our understanding of a company’s approach to corporate governance and business risks and opportunities.
Direction
Proxy voting
How we signal our support for or raise our concerns over a company’s corporate governance or business model.
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Thought Leadership
How we share our perspective on topical and emerging stewardship issues that may impact clients’ financial interests as long-term investors.
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Stewardship statistics
How we provide insight and transparency into the actions we are taking on behalf of clients on a quarterly basis.

Global reach with local expertise

investment stewardship

Our team spans the globe, assembling one of the largest, most diverse, and skilled investment stewardship teams in the industry.

Promoting sound corporate governance and resilient business models

Engagement is core to our stewardship efforts. Our engagement priorities reflect the themes on which we most frequently engage companies, where they are relevant, as these can be a source of material business risk or opportunity.

  • Board quality and effectiveness

Our investment stewardship efforts have always started with the board and executive leadership. We believe that the performance of the board is critical to the financial success of a company and the protection of shareholders’ interests over the long-term.

Learn more about our approach

  • Strategy, purpose, and financial resilience

As one of many minority shareholders, BlackRock cannot – and does not try to - direct a company’s strategy or its implementation. We engage on long-term corporate strategy, purpose and financial resilience to understand how boards and management are aligning their business decision-making with the company’s purpose and adjusting strategy and/or capital allocation plans as necessary as business dynamics change.

Learn more about our approach

  • Incentives aligned with financial value creation

Appropriate and transparent compensation policies are a focus in many of BIS’ engagements with the companies in which we invest on behalf of clients. BIS looks to a company’s board of directors – typically a relevant committee – to put in place a compensation policy that incentivizes and rewards executives against appropriate and stretching goals tied to relevant strategic metrics, especially those measuring operational and financial performance.

Learn more about our approach

  • Climate and natural capital

BIS engages with companies to better understand their approach to, and oversight of, climate-related risks and opportunities as well as how they manage material natural capital impacts and dependencies, in the context of their business model and sector.

Read more on climate-related risk

Read more on natural capital

Our Climate Focus Universe

Our participation in Climate Action 100+

  • Company impacts on people

In our experience, companies that invest in the relationships that are critical to their ability to meet their strategic objectives are more likely to deliver durable, long-term financial performance. By contrast, poor relationships may create adverse impacts that could expose companies to legal, regulatory, operational, and reputational risks. This is particularly the case with regard to a company’s workforce, as a significant number of companies acknowledge the importance of their workers in creating long-term financial value.

See more on human capital management

Read more on human rights

 

Read our full engagement priorities

Stewardship efforts at a glance

3,880
engagements

BIS had 3,880+ engagements with companies during 2022

2,580
companies engaged

BIS engaged with 2,580+ unique companies across 51 markets during 2022

18,200
shareholder meetings

BIS voted at 18,200+ shareholder meetings during 2022

173,300
proposals voted

Out of the 173,300+ proposals BIS voted on during 2022, less than 1% were shareholder proposals

Source: BlackRock, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), Sourced on January 29, 2023, reflecting data from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022.

BIS content library

We are committed to transparency in our investment stewardship activities. It is important to us that our clients understand how the work we do on their behalf aligns with their economic interests. Below is a library of our policies, reports, thought leadership pieces, and vote bulletins.

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Our approach to U.S. Executive Compensation

Our response to HKEX’s consultation paper on “Rule Amendments Following Mainland China Regulation Updates and Other Proposed Rule Amendments Relating to PRC Issuers”

Our response to the SGX's consultation paper on "Board Renewal and Remuneration Disclosures"

Our approach to data privacy and security

Shareholder proposals in 2022

Our approach to engagement with the palm oil industry

Our response to the draft ISSB S2 climate-related disclosures exposure draft

Our response to the draft ISSB S1 general requirements for disclosure of sustainability-related financial information

Our Response to the Securities and Exchange Board of India Consultation Paper on Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Rating Providers for Securities Markets

Our Response to Proposed Draft Amendments to Regulations Governing the Acquisition and Disposal of Assets by Public Companies

Our response to the HKEX's consultation paper on “Proposed Amendments to Listing Rules relating to Share Schemes of Listed Issuers”

BlackRock Investment Stewardship’s perspective on corporate political activities 

Our approach to engagement on board quality and effectiveness

Climate risk and the global energy transition

Our Approach to Engagement on Natural Capital

Our Climate Focus Universe

Incentives Aligned with Financial Value Creation

Our Approach to Engagement on Human Capital Management

Our Approach to Engagement with Companies on their Human Rights Impacts

Our Approach to Engagement on Strategy, Purpose, and Financial Resilience 

To request an engagement please submit a request through CorpAxe

For all other inquiries please contact the team at ContactStewardship@blackrock.com