79% BlackRock Portfolio Managers Are Intrigued by Carbon-intense Companies

I always pay attention to BlackRock's #Question of The Week which is their portfolio managers and strategists are debating.

Recently, they asked people How are you thinking about carbon-intense companies from an investment perspective?

Public poll responses were almost tied between “Sustainability first” (40%) and “Intrigued” (35%). Another 21% voted that carbon-intense companies look like stranded assets from an investment perspective and 4% of respondents selected 「Don’t care」.

On the contrary, most BlackRock portfolio managers (79%) voted that they were still 「Intrigued」 by carbon-intense companies from an investment perspective, while 8% voted for 「Stranded assets」. One in 10 selected 「Don’t care」.

Simply excluding the high-emissions industries means excluding large parts of the investment universe,said the Global Fixed Income team, and it means a lack of finance for their transition efforts. The important thing is to be able to assess the credibility and cost of these companies' decarbonization plans.

The BlackRock Energy and Power Infrastructure team saw the biggest risk of investing in high-emission companies and how people will view the assets when it's time to sell – some might be untouchable in 5-10 years. Capital markets are currently directing capital to companies that are already green, said the BlackRock Sustainable Investing team (BSI). But building a wind farm doesn’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions – shutting down a coal plant does.