Perhaps one of the greatest corporate adversaries of liberty to date, BlackRock, Inc., held its annual shareholders meeting this Thursday morning, streaming it live online for shareholders. Currently the world’s largest asset manager, the multinational company boasts a mind-boggling asset portfolio of $11.5 trillion as of 2024—a figure higher than the total GDP of many countries.

Their now-infamous Chairman and CEO Larry Fink exists as a political pariah in many circles. Fink is a regular attendee—and even board member—of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland and an outspoken proponent of all things renewable energy, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores, and just about anything else that screams “woke.”

Under his leadership, BlackRock has earned the reputation as one of the—if not the—most politically left-leaning companies in America. In recent months, however, the company has seemingly turned over a new leaf, shifting back toward more moderate or neutral policies. Since the beginning of 2024, BlackRock has:

  • Exited the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative
  • Scaled back DEI and ESG language
  • Stopped launching new ESG-themed funds in the U.S.
  • Softened diversity targets in voting guidelines

Though encouraging, it should be noted that these measures were taken under intense political pressure in the United States, especially after the reelection of Donald Trump and the decision by several red states to cease doing business with the company altogether. Now, nearly halfway through 2025, it’s clear the company is having mixed feelings about its corporate direction. Despite recent internal changes, BlackRock leadership remains very much in lockstep with the more radical goals of the climate change lobby.

Throughout the course of the meeting, a number of shareholder proposals were presented—mostly focused on board governance and other apolitical matters. However, one proposal submitted by the Boyer Research Group requested a public board report on the legal and reputational risks associated with BlackRock’s perceived shift away from shareholder capitalism in favor of “stakeholderism” or stakeholder capitalism. Despite CFACT’s strong support for the proposal, which called for greater scrutiny of the board’s favoritism toward stakeholder capitalism, the proposal received only 1% of shareholder votes in favor.

During the Q&A portion of the meeting, CFACT’s Nate Myers had the opportunity to pose the following pointed question on climate policy to John Roe, Head of BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship (BIS) in the Americas:

“Now that BlackRock has “backed away” from climate politics, how does continuing to push climate disclosure policies not amount to soft ESG activism under a new name?”

John responded with:

“BlackRock’s investment view is that the energy transition is one of several mega-forces reshaping markets today. As an asset manager, BlackRock’s approach to climate-related risks and the opportunities presented by the low-carbon transition are based in our role as a fiduciary to our clients. That role is to help our clients navigate investment risks and opportunities. It’s not our role to engineer a specific decarbonization outcome in the real economy.

We recognize that it can be challenging for companies to predict the impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on their business and operating environment. Many companies are assessing how to navigate the low-carbon transition while delivering long term value to investors. For companies where these climate risks are material, we find it helpful when they publicly disclose, consistent with their business model and sector, how they intend to deliver long term financial performance through the transition to a low-carbon economy, including, where available, their long-term transition plan.

It is the role of the board and management to set strategies to deliver long-term financial returns. As one of many worthy public companies, BIS and BlackRock does not direct the company’s strategy or implementation. Our role, on behalf of our clients and long-term investors, is to better understand how corporate leadership is managing material risks and capitalizing on opportunities to help and protect the company’s ability to deliver long term financial returns.”

Based on John’s answer, it would seem that while BlackRock has publicly walked back its stance on climate policy, the board of directors is still singing a very different tune behind the scenes. CFACT will continue to monitor and report on the company’s ongoing climate initiatives.