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By Simon Jessop and Ron Bousso
LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - The world's biggest asset manager
and top BP investor BlackRock said on Friday it
had backed a shareholder resolution calling for faster climate
action which the energy company's board opposed.
BlackRock's vote at BP's annual general meeting earlier this
month points to growing pressure on both major oil companies and
investors to accelerate efforts to slash greenhouse gas
emissions. BlackRock holds a 6.8% stake in BP, according to
Refinitiv data.
The asset manager said, however, that it voted in favour of
Total's energy transition strategy at the company's
AGM on Friday, which won over 90% of shareholder support.
It also supported management at Royal Dutch Shell
in a non-binding vote on the company's energy transition
strategy at its AGM this month. Refinitiv data showed BlackRock
is also the biggest investor in the company.
Managing $9 trillion in assets, BlackRock's vote has been a
key focus for campaigners and investors alike, as pressure
builds on the world's biggest oil companies to put in place a
plan aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global
warming.
BlackRock said it had backed a BP shareholder resolution put
forward by activist group Follow This, which asked for the
company to set deeper climate targets.
Although the Follow This resolution was rejected, the 20%
support it won was seen as a signal that a growing number of
investors want CEO Bernard Looney to accelerate his plan to cut
BP's emissions from its oil and gas production to net zero by
2050, which will see it reduce oil output by 40% by 2030.
BlackRock said it supports BP's climate strategy but that it
also supported the Follow This resolution "because we see it as
a means to reiterate our expectation that BP progressively
refine its GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions reduction targets."
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
