Black Rock, which manages more than $5 trillion in assets, has released a statement on how it “engages with climate risk.”  The statement has three main elements. 

• Support for the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures

• Engagement with companies over assessment on climate risks

• An indication of potential support for shareholder resolutions on climate risk, where such resolutions “address a gap in investment-decision and stewardship”, and “management’s response to our prior engagement has been inadequate.”

The statement emphasizes Black Rock’s long-term approach to investing, which is the source of the best line in the statement.  In summarizing letters from Black Rock’s CEO, Larry Fink, to CEOs, Black Rock notes that:

While we are patient investors, we are not infinitely patient.

I’m picturing James Earl Jones as Darth Vader saying that.  I wonder what energy executives are hearing.