BlackRock CEO calls for stronger climate financing plan at G20 meeting Reuters

Simon Jessop and Gavin Jones

VENICE (Reuters)-BlackRock (NYSE:) CEO Larry Fink on Sunday called on governments to develop stronger long-term climate financing plans to release funds for the transition to a low-carbon economy The private capital required.

In his speech to the Venice International Climate Conference at the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting, he said that if there is no such plan, current efforts, including the disclosure of corporate sustainability information, may “just decorate the facade.”

Fink, the head of the world’s largest asset management company with approximately US$9 trillion in assets, also called for reforms of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to make them more suitable for addressing the challenges of climate change.

Fink emphasized the three “key” issues needed to promote ecological transformation, which he said presents a $50 trillion opportunity for investors. BlackRock itself is a major investor in fossil fuels.

First, he stated that private companies need to bear the same pressure as listed companies to share information about their sustainable development efforts.

Currently, listed oil and gas companies have “huge incentives” to sell more polluting assets, which are usually sold to private and state-owned companies that have less scrutiny and much less disclosure of their operations.

Second, Fink stated that governments are at risk of increasing inequality unless they create more demand for green products and services, reduce costs or “green premiums,” which will punish worse situations and may exacerbate social instability.

Finally, global institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund need to be changed so that they can take more steps to encourage private sector capital to finance the transformation of emerging markets.

He pointed out that these two institutions were created based on bank balance sheet models nearly 80 years ago, and it is now necessary to “reconsider their roles”.

Citing BlackRock’s role in developing a US$250 million public-private climate financing strategy to help fund sustainable infrastructure, and government and philanthropic investors providing secondary capital to protect private investors’ returns, he said that more needs to be done. Many of the same things.

“If we do not have an international institution to provide this first-of-its-kind position on a larger scale than today, properly monitor these investments, and reduce financing costs and equity costs, we will not be able to attract the private capital needed for the energy transition in emerging markets. ,”He says.