The article in the url below reveals the challenges for organizations responding to multiple stakeholders with competing interests:
"BlackRock Inc. has lost a mandate worth €14.5 billion ($17 billion) with one of the largest pension funds in the Netherlands, amid concerns the world's biggest money manager isn't acting in the best interests of clients when it comes to climate risk. PFZW, which oversees about €250 billion ($290 billion), will instead rely on Robeco, Man Numeric, Acadian, Lazard, Schroders, M&G, UBS and PGGM to oversee an equity portfolio worth some €50 billion, a spokesperson for the pensions manager told Bloomberg on Wednesday."
The article suggests that, having been so outspoken on climate change in prior years, BlackRock has now created this conflict due to its willingness to retreat on previously umambiguous positions:
"PFZW is the latest asset owner to voice discontent with US money managers that have retreated from climate alliances amid an all-out assault on net zero policies by the White House. PME, another Dutch pensions manager, told Bloomberg earlier this year it's reviewing its mandate with BlackRock, valued at some €5 billion."
And, of course, each of BlackRock's stakeholders has its own set of stakeholders that are helping shape decisions and priorities in a ripple effect:
"Dutch pension funds have been under pressure from a local nonprofit, Fossil Free Netherlands, to end their ties with BlackRock. The 'Break with BlackRock' initiative asked savers to urge their pension funds to act, and thousands have done so, according to the nonprofit's website."
Inauthentic values that are applied inconsistently can earn short-term gains at the expense of long-term credibility, and with very real costs:
"PME's senior strategist for responsible investing, Daan Spaargaren, told Bloomberg the €57 billion pension manager's concern was that BlackRock wasn't doing enough to distance itself from the anti-climate rhetoric of the administration of US President Donald Trump. BlackRock and other US asset managers 'aren't condemning what Trump is doing and how he is operating and how he is handling issues like climate change and demolishing the judiciary,' Spaargaren said at the time. 'We are worried about that.'"
Take care
David
David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Sustainable Value Creation (6e)
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BlackRock Loses $17 Billion Mandate at Dutch Pension Fund PFZW
By Frances Schwartzkopff
September 2, 2025
Bloomberg
