U.S. foundation discontinues association with BlackRock
In a significant move, the Sierra Club Foundation, a notable environmental organisation, has decided to divest from BlackRock, a global investment giant, and transfer its assets to Nia Impact Capital and Xponance. This decision is a response to BlackRock's perceived inadequate climate stewardship and failure to align its investment practices with the urgency of the climate crisis.
Paul Rissman, a board member of the Sierra Club Foundation, expressed his concerns, stating that BlackRock has refused to fulfill its fiduciary duty to long-term investors and support real-world decarbonisation. He also criticised BlackRock for not demonstrating strong stewardship practices, a strategy that is accused of accelerating the climate crisis and putting clients' investments at risk.
One of the key reasons for the divestment is BlackRock's withdrawal from the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (NZAMI) in January 2025, signalling a retreat from global decarbonisation commitments. The Foundation also points to a significant drop in support for environmental shareholder proposals, declining to just 4.1% in 2024, down from 12% in 2020.
Furthermore, the removal of climate-aligned investment guidance from BlackRock’s public resources, including a broken link to its values-aligned investing framework, and BlackRock's continued backing of fossil fuel projects have deepened the Foundation's distrust.
The Sierra Club Foundation's decision to sever ties with BlackRock is not a new development. After a three-year engagement starting in 2022, during which the foundation warned BlackRock and put it "on watch," BlackRock's actions have deepened the foundation's distrust.
By divesting $167 million from BlackRock in June 2025, the Sierra Club Foundation sent a clear message that institutional fiduciaries must prioritise planetary survival over short-term profits and cannot outsource climate risk mitigation to asset managers lacking robust climate accountability.
Nia Impact Capital and Xponance, the firms to which the Sierra Club Foundation's assets will be transferred, focus on sustainable investing and provide proxy voting options aligned with climate and decarbonisation goals. These firms are also women-led impact investment firms and Black-founded and majority-Black-owned multi-strategy investment firms.
The move by the Sierra Club Foundation is not an isolated incident. In February, the UK-based People's Pension withdrew £28bn from State Street, followed by Danish fund AkademikerPension in March. This decision by the Sierra Club Foundation marks the first globally to divest from BlackRock in the wake of similar action against State Street.
[1] Source: Sierra Club Foundation Press Release, June 2025 [4] Source: Nia Impact Capital and Xponance Press Releases, June 2025
- The Sierra Club Foundation, in response to BlackRock's inadequate climate stewardship and its perceived failure to align investment practices with the urgency of climate change, has decided to divest from BlackRock, a global investment giant, and transfer its assets to Nia Impact Capital and Xponance, firms that focus on sustainable investing and provide proxy voting options aligned with climate and decarbonisation goals.
- Paul Rissman, a board member of the Sierra Club Foundation, expressed concerns stating that BlackRock has refused to fulfill its fiduciary duty to long-term investors and support real-world decarbonisation, and has not demonstrated strong stewardship practices, a strategy criticised for accelerating the climate crisis and putting clients' investments at risk.
- The Sierra Club Foundation's decision to sever ties with BlackRock and invest in environmental-science, as demonstrated by the transfer of its assets to firms like Nia Impact Capital and Xponance, signals a shift in the business world, where institutions are expected to prioritise planetary survival over short-term profits and invest in sustainable and climate-friendly ventures.
