Investment firm BlackRock has been taking flack for resolutely ploughing money into fossil fuels. Earlier this month company representatives told a UK parliamentary committee that it had no intention of halting its investments into coal, oil or gas. Following some serious public outcry, it took a rootle in the coffers last week, coming up with £3.97bn to put towards an investment fund that would finance climate tech infrastructure companies. That means the big carbon hitters – like energy, transport, utilities and digital.
This story typifies the debate emerging around climate tech and its meteoric rise in recent years. Innovations in things like carbon capture, renewables and vertical farming are thought to offer a real way to mitigate the climate crisis. But the BlackRock approach illustrates a dangerous precedent – that companies can carry on with emissions-pumping practices with one hand, as long as some climate tech investments are made with the other.
