(VOR News) – The $10.5 trillion money BlackRock manager’s assets will vote differently on shareholder proposals than the funds that have specific climate change mandates. This is BlackRock’s most recent attempt to navigate the political rift over decarbonization.

The world’s biggest asset management said in a statement on Tuesday that clients of funds with a climate focus will now be allowed to voice their opinions aggressively in shareholder resolutions pertaining to decarbonization.

All of BlackRock’s funds are susceptible to climate risk.

Still, funds that follow its recently released “climate and decarbonization stewardship guidelines” will evaluate whether or not companies are really attempting to keep the rise in world average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

The Paris Agreement, which over 200 nations joined, set this goal as the optimal threshold.

The head of BlackRock, Larry Fink, was a vocal early proponent of integrating sustainability into the investment process. In his letter to investors for the 2020 annual meeting, he raised the topic of climate change, but he has subsequently faced criticism from all sides.

With the new stewardship policy, BlackRock is attempting to reconcile US regulations compelling fund managers to focus on financial returns with the expectations of its clients in Europe and the US, who want the company to promote decarbonization.

In a letter to clients, Joud Abdel Majeid, Global Head of Stewardship at BlackRock, said that the policy will start to apply to 83 funds in the fourth quarter. $150 billion worth of assets are held by these funds, all of which are headquartered in Europe.

Conservatives in the US are starting to push back, denouncing the movement as “woke capitalism.” This is true even if a large number of progressives and investors in Europe favor advancing the effort to limit global warming as quickly as is practical.

The boards of directors of funds with a special responsibility for climate change in the United States and Asia will be asked if they would like to carry out the policy later this year. The climate-related option that BlackRock intends to offer will also be available to clients who invest through independently managed accounts.

“BlackRock will continue to undertake our stewardship responsibilities with a sole focus on advancing clients’ long-term financial returns in line with our benchmark policies,” Abdel Majeid stated.

“BlackRock will continue to handle all other funds.”

As a result, the climate-focused funds might adopt stances on business votes related to fossil fuels and other decarbonization-related issues that are completely at odds with those of the other funds in the group. They will follow BlackRock’s primary criteria for additional environmental, social, and governance considerations in all other cases.

Since the spike in energy prices that coincided with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, BlackRock has been the subject of intense political discourse. Conservatives have tried to limit or boycott the company’s offerings. Simultaneously, proponents of climate change expressed their annoyance at the company’s sharp drop in backing for shareholder resolutions related to the issue.

Since then, the asset manager has claimed that a large number of recently passed shareholder resolutions by businesses were unduly prescriptive and did not support customers’ financial interests.

BlackRock withdrew its support from Climate Action 100+, an investor group founded to motivate companies to combat global warming, at the beginning of this year. Instead of carrying on with global participation, it chose to move membership to its smaller foreign subsidiary.

BlackRock has also implemented a policy that gives institutional clients and some retail investors authority over how their shares are voted on proxy matters.

Investors may choose to entrust BlackRock with their vote or they can choose from over a dozen policies created by proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis through the “voting choice” scheme.

SEE ALSO:

Google Falling Short Of Important Climate Target, Cites Electricity Needs Of AI

Under Pressure On Plane Safety, Boeing Is Buying Stressed Supplier Spirit For $4.7 Billion

Alibaba will discontinue its data center operations in India and Australia.

Tesla sales declined for the second consecutive quarter. It is the first time in the company’s history that revenues have fallen from the prior year for two consecutive quarters.

Tesla’s sales for the quarter totaled over 444,000, a 5% decrease from the previous year. That is less than the 8.5% dip the corporation experienced in the first quarter. However, Tesla’s share price, which has made CEO Elon Musk one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, is based on a track record of increasing auto sales.

The sales reduction reflects growing competition in the electric vehicle sector. While total EV sales continue to increase, the growth rate has been slower than projected, leaving investors begging for each car sold to be more profitable than previously.

Tesla | PixaBay Image

Tesla Sales Fall Again As More Automakers Crowd Electric Vehicle Market

Before this year, Tesla only reported a year-over-year sales loss once, during the peak of the pandemic when plants were closed due to stay-at-home orders.

The sales figures contained some good news, however. Sales exceeded some analysts’ forecasts of 436,000, which was enough to keep the lead in global sales of all-electric vehicles over Chinese automaker BYD.

On Monday, BYD reported EV sales of 426,000. That is 21% higher than a year ago as BYD continues to close the gap with Tesla. In the fourth quarter, BYD briefly surpassed Tesla in global EV sales.

However, Tesla’s (TSLA) sales exceeded expectations, causing shares to rise by more than 4% in early trading. Despite Tuesday’s gains, shares are still down more than 10% yearly.

Tesla has been progressively lowering pricing for over a year in response to increased competition from major automakers transitioning from petroleum-powered vehicles to EVs, including BYD in China and Volkswagen, General Motors, and Ford in Europe and North America. These price cuts have boosted sales but reduced company margins. Tesla stated Tuesday that it will release its second-quarter financial results on July 23.

GM did not publish global sales data on Tuesday, but it did report US sales data. US EV sales were up 40% from a year ago and 34% from the first quarter total to roughly 22,000, a record for the carmaker. Overall sales were practically unchanged, up 0.6%, owing in part to the CDK platform hack that affected many of its dealers’ operations. A modest decrease in sales of regular gasoline-powered vehicles offset the robust EV sales.

Even as it withdrew its best-selling American EV, the Bolt, sales fell 90% from 14,000 a year earlier. However, increases in sales for its Blazer EV and Cadillac Lyriq more than compensated for the lost Bolt sales. It continues to release new EV models and will have ten in US showrooms by the end of the year.

Tesla | PixaBay Image

Tesla Sales Fall Again As More Automakers Crowd Electric Vehicle Market

However, dropping sales indicate that rising competition is influencing its sales. The majority of its car lineup is somewhat ancient. Since its premiere in 2012, Tesla’s flagship automobile, the Model S, has not undergone a complete redesign. The Model Y, its best-selling model, has seen little alteration since its debut in 2019. The Model Y is one of its most recent models.

It began producing its Cybertruck pickup late last year, which has raised serious concerns about its build quality.

Last week, Tesla announced the third and fourth recalls of the Cybertruck, citing issues with its massive single windshield wiper and a piece of plastic trim around the side of the truck bed that can detach while driving. The recall applies to virtually all of the 12,000 Cybertrucks sold to consumers. Another recall was issued in April due to an accelerator pedal that could stick down.

SOURCE – CNN

Three years ago, Google announced an ambitious aim to combat climate change by becoming “net zero,” which means emitting no more climate-changing gases into the atmosphere than it removes by 2030.

However, a study released by the corporation on Tuesday showed that it needs to fulfill that target.

Rather than dropping, emissions increased by 13% in 2023 compared to the previous year. Emissions have increased by 48% from 2019, the baseline year.

Google | PixaBay Image

Google Falling Short Of Important Climate Target, Cites Electricity Needs Of AI

Google attributed last year’s spike to artificial intelligence and the increased demand for data centers, which consume vast amounts of electricity.

Burning coal or natural gas to produce electricity creates greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide and methane, which warm the globe and cause more extreme weather.

The corporation has made one of the most significant climate commitments in the sector and is recognized as a leader.

Lisa Sachs, director of the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment, believes Google could do more to work with cleaner industries and invest in the electricity infrastructure.

“The reality is that we are far behind what we could already be doing now with the technology that we have, with the resources that we have, in terms of advancing the transition,” according to her.

Google Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt told The Associated Press that reaching net zero by 2030 is a tremendously ambitious target.

“We know this is not going to be easy and that our approach will need to continue to evolve,” says Brandt, “and it will require us to navigate a lot of uncertainty, including this uncertainty around the future of AI’s environmental impacts.”

According to some scientists, the fast-rising data centers required to power AI endanger the transition to clean electricity, which is critical for combating climate change. That’s because a new data center can either delay the closing of a fossil-fuel power plant or drive the construction of a new one. Data centers are not only energy-intensive, but they also require high-voltage transmission cables and large volumes of water to stay cool. They’re also noisy.

They are frequently developed where electricity is cheapest, rather than where renewables like wind and solar are a major energy source.

The International Energy Agency estimates that global data center and AI electricity usage will triple by 2026.

The growth of data centers is also putting pressure on the sustainability strategies of other large technology companies. According to an environmental sustainability report released in May, Microsoft’s emissions increased by 29% above the 2020 baseline.

Tech businesses argue that artificial intelligence, including tools like ChatGPT, is not just contributing to climate change but also helping to mitigate it.

In Google’s case, this may mean analyzing data to forecast future flooding or improving traffic flow to conserve gas.

Amanda Smith, senior scientist at the environment NGO Project Drawdown, stated that anyone who uses AI — whether huge corporations or individuals simply creating memes — must do so ethically, which means utilizing energy only when it helps society.

Google | PixaBay Image

Google Falling Short Of Important Climate Target, Cites Electricity Needs Of AI

“It’s up to us as humans to watch what we’re doing with it and to question why we’re doing that,” according to Smith. “When it’s worth it, we can make sure that those demands are going to be met by clean sources of power.”

Google’s emissions increased last year, partly because the corporation used more energy: 25,910 gigawatt-hours more, up from the previous year and more than doubling the hours consumed just four years before. A gigawatt-hour is equivalent to the amount of electricity produced by a power plant servicing hundreds of thousands of households in one hour.

On the plus side, as Google’s usage increased, so did its use of renewable energy.

In 2020, the corporation stated that by 2030, it would meet its vast electricity demand entirely with clean energy. Last year, Google reported an average of 64% carbon-free energy for its data centers and offices worldwide. The corporation’s data centers are 1.8 times more energy efficient than the industry average.

Sachs, at Columbia University, complimented Google for its ambition and honesty, but said she hoped “that Google would join us in a more rigorous conversation about how to accelerate” renewable energy under the climate crisis, “so that it doesn’t get much worse before it starts getting better.”

SOURCE – AP