EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE, SAYS FINK

THE boss of the world’s biggest investment firm has warned climate change will have a “profound” impact on companies around the world.

Larry Fink, who heads powerful fund manager BlackRock, said: “We are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.”

He added global warming would be felt in everything from inflation and food prices to mortgage costs and insurance for homes.

In a letter to BlackRock investors, Fink said: “Every government, company and shareholder must confront climate change.”

The US firm, which manages £5trillion of assets, pledged to dump businesses that make over 25 per cent of revenues from coal, and vote against bosses who are not doing enough to tackle climate change. BlackRock admitted the switch to a low-carbon world could take decades. Campaigners have previously accused BlackRock of being one of the largest investors in polluting firms. Jeanne Martin, campaign manager at ShareAction, said: “Larry Fink talks a lot about companies’ purpose, but there are questions left unanswered about what BlackRock’s own purpose is.” ShareAction is leading a landmark vote by investors at Barclays’ AGM in May for the bank to halt backing for fossil fuel firms. BlackRock’s intervention comes ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney recently said that investors and firms were “not moving fast enough” to protect against climate change.

Larry Fink

ONLINE fashion giant Boohoo is worth more than M&S following a 44 per cent leap in sales during the final four months of 2019. Shares in Manchester-based Boohoo, founded in 2006, jumped five per cent yesterday, giving it a stock market value of almost £3.9billion and overtaking 135-year-old M&S. Co-founder Mahmud Kamani’s stock rose by £24m.