Today BlackRock funds hold a 6.7 per cent stake in Exxon Mobil,for instance,as well as 6.9 per cent in Chevron and 6 per cent in Glencore.
And,in all likelihood,they'll keep holding them,for the same reason that BlackRock is so big and successful:two thirds of its roughly $US7 trillion ($10 trillion) in assets are squirreled away in funds that passively track market indexes,rather than actually pick stocks or bonds.
Only last year,Fink became a designated villain of climate change,dogged by protesters pressing BlackRock to divest from fossil fuel companies and others that contribute to climate change. Tuesday's announcement promptly drew praise from his former critics - and raised the prospect that other money managers would soon follow suit.
Awareness is rapidly changing,and I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance.
Larry Fink
While the move will draw more attention to environmental sustainability,the hard reality of passive investing may mean it's as much about making a statement as taking immediate action.
"One of BlackRock's many challenges is their heavy reliance on traditional indexes and how they address that in light of their new climate policy,"said Timothy Smith,director of environment,social and governance share owner engagement at Boston Trust Walden,which manages $US10 billion.
The biggest investors could once send a strong message to companies,forcing executives to sit up and listen:change your ways or we'll sell our shares. Such pressure helped in divestment campaigns from apartheid-era South Africa to American college campuses where students object to how endowment money is allocated.