World’s two largest asset managers have invested $170bn in coal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 25, 2021)

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The world’s two largest money managers have built a combined $170 billion investment portfolio in coal using money from people’s private savings and pension contributions, despite a global push for carbon neutrality, a new report shows.

The eye-popping figure pales in comparison to the astronomical $1 trillion in coal investments held by 4,488 institutional investors as of January this year, a report by more than 25 green groups led by German non-profit Urgewald, reveals.

US asset managers BlackRock and Vanguard, the world’s No.1 and No. 2 investment firms respectively, hold $86 billion and $84 billion worth of coal assets each.

“While many large EU investors have begun screening coal companies out of their portfolios, the vast majority of US investors have refused to adopt coal exit policies,” Katrin Ganswindt, head of financial research at Urgewald, said in a statement.

BlackRock has divested from fossil fuel companies that generate more than a quarter of their revenues from thermal coal in its discretionary active investment portfolios.

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