Imfino News

18 May 2020, London - BlackRock awarded Investor of the Year at the Environmental Finance 2020 Bond Awards.

Judged by an independent panel of representatives from leading investment firms, BlackRock has been recognised as the Investor of the Year by the annual Environmental Finance Bond awards. These awards focus on companies paving the way in the green, social and sustainability bond markets1.

Marilyn Watson, BlackRock’s Head of the Global Fundamental Fixed Income Strategy Team, commented: “To receive Investor of the Year at the Environmental Finance Bond Awards is a testament to the standards we have set ourselves when it comes to sustainable investing. The growing body of performance data is demonstrating that you don’t have to sacrifice returns when it comes to investing sustainably and we therefore expect to see investors continuing to shift their investments to match their sustainability goals across all asset classes.”

In January 2020 BlackRock published an Open Letter to Clients, informing them of the firm’s commitment to helping clients on their journey of sustainable investing. This award is, in part, recognition of that commitment, which included several initiatives to place sustainability at the centre of BlackRock’s investment approach. The initiatives announced included joining Climate Action 100+, reducing exposure to thermal coal in active investments and an ambition to double ESG ETFs to 150 over the next few years. These initiatives built on the November 2019 paper from the BlackRock Investment Institute, 'Sustainability: the bond that endures’, which highlighted that, as ESG investing was spreading to all pockets of the fixed income markets, evidence that a focus on sustainability-related factors could help investors build more resilient portfolio was building. That same month, recognising client interest in integrating ESG criteria in fixed income solutions, BlackRock launched Europe’s first high-yield bond ESG ETF.

BlackRock currently manages $28bn* in sustainable fixed income AUM across commingled funds and separate accounts.

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