The Sierra Club’s charitable arm this week moved to drop BlackRock as its asset manager, accusing the firm of failing to factor climate change into its investment and corporate engagement decisions.
The Sierra Club Foundation is moving its $10.5 million of reserves instead to the women-led sustainable investment firm Nia Impact Capital and Xponance, a Black-owned investment company with an environmental focus.
The decision is significant more for its symbolic value than its financial impact: The charity of the nation’s oldest environmental group is no longer willing to do business with the world’s largest asset management firm, which handles around $11.6 trillion on behalf of other clients.
“BlackRock has refused to fulfill its fiduciary duty to long-term investors and support real-world decarbonization through stronger stewardship practices, which is why it is no longer a responsible manager for the Sierra Club Foundation’s assets,” said Paul Rissman, an emeritus board member of the Sierra Club Foundation, in a Wednesday announcement.
