Facing Texas pushback, BlackRock says it backs fossil fuels

Facing Texas pushback, BlackRock says it backs fossil fuels

BOSTON - At the risk of being dropped from Texas pension funds, BlackRock Inc has ramped up its message that the world's largest asset manager is a friend of the oil and gas industries.

As a large and long-term investor in fossil fuel companies, "we want to see these companies succeed and prosper," BlackRock executives wrote in a letter that a spokesman confirmed was sent at the start of the year to officials, trade groups and others in energy-rich Texas.

"We will continue to invest in and support fossil fuel companies, including Texas fossil fuel companies," states the memo, signed by Dalia Blass, BlackRock's head of external affairs, and Mark McCombe, BlackRock's chief client officer.

Although the message is consistent with its other statements, the emphasis is new after years in which BlackRock has stressed its efforts to take climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into account in its investment and proxy voting decisions.

BlackRock faces a balancing act as some pension funds and endowments move to divest from fossil fuel stocks over climate-change concerns, and because of its size. Like rivals, BlackRock has declined to follow suit.

The U.S. securities regulator is developing a new rule on corporate climate-change disclosures.

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