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.
(Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested.)
The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by UN Member States in 2015, consist of 17 goals the world must collectively achieve by 2030 to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere.
BBL Open
Title: How do the UN SDGs impact investing?
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Carole Crozat
Head of Fundamental Research for BlackRock Sustainable Investing
While measuring the alignment of investments to the UN SDGs is still a complex and evolving task, we believe that their integration in investment decisions can help secure long-term financial performance and is relevant to all sustainable investors.
Our research finds significant overlap between the UN SDGs and company indicators that are material to their long-term performance.
This means that the management of both positive and negative social and environmental outcomes today may become more and more material to company success in the future as countries progress towards achieving the goals.
Redirecting capital towards them could offer 12 trillion dollars of market opportunities linked to our long-term social and environmental wellbeing. Examples include the building of key waste treatment and water infrastructure, and green transportation.
The bottom line is that investing in alignment with the UN SDGs has the potential to deliver value to all investors and will play a key role in accelerating the global transition towards the goals.
In 2015, the United Nations member states adopted 17 goals to improve sustainability worldwide by 2030. To learn more, watch Carole Crozat, Head of Fundamental Research for BlackRock Sustainable Investing explain how investors will play a key role in advancing the process from developing key infrastructure to building green transportation.
Sarah Melvin, Head of UK and Ireland, BlackRock
Hello and welcome to BlackRock. I'm Sarah Melvin, Head of UK and Ireland. We've been operating and investing money on behalf of our clients in the UK for more than five decades. We have more than 3,000 employees across the UK and Ireland, and we are entrusted to manage the savings of over ten million people here. Our clients include pension schemes and their members, insurance companies, charities, and individuals saving for retirement. We invest on behalf of our clients, putting almost 200 billion pounds of their capital to work in local British companies and infrastructure. Which in turn supports job creation and a stronger UK economy. We're proud to play our part in supporting economic prosperity here. And as our clients increasingly want to invest to deliver a more sustainable future, we've invested over 20 billion pounds in sustainable infrastructure projects across the UK, including wind farms and solar power which go on to power 1.8 million homes each year. In January 2020, we published a letter setting out our ambitions for Black Rock to play a leadership role as a sustainable investor for our clients. I'm delighted to say that since then, we've delivered some good progress. Just a few of the highlights include that today, all of our active and advisory strategies are ESG integrated, covering 2 trillion pounds in assets. We introduced 93 new sustainable solutions in 2020, helping clients allocate billions of pounds to sustainable investment strategies over the year. And we've added 1,200 sustainability metrics to our technology platform, to help clients better understand ESG and physical climate risks. Now in 2021 we're pushing ahead once again. We have announced a set of actions that we're taking to help move our clients portfolios and the UK and global economy, 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. Whether you're an existing or prospective client, a possible future colleague, a business partner, or just an interested member of society, welcome to BlackRock.
Unless otherwise stated, all data is sourced from BlackRock as at December 2020.
Investing sustainably for our clients
Watch Sarah Melvin, Head of UK and Ireland, share the progress that BlackRock is making in the UK to help our clients invest in a better, more sustainable future.
About BlackRock in UK
We’ve been in the UK and investing money on behalf of our UK clients for more than five decades.1 Our goal is simple – we want to help more and more people experience financial well-being.
Our net zero commitment
Learn how we’re helping clients navigate this transformation.
*Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested.
1Source: BlackRock as of 26th January 2021
