Speaking as one of Mexico’s largest foreign investors, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink delivered a not-so-subtle threat to his purported friend, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), in his remarks March 12 before the Mexican Banking Association’s 84th annual convention. “Climate risk has caused a tectonic shift in how we invest,” but local and national governments are not stepping up as quickly as they must, he warned, pointedly singling out “populists"—as AMLO is often painted—as the big problem.
“In today’s world of rising populism we are not seeing democratic governments worldwide focusing on these issues,” the Fink said. According to one report, he complained that governments and societies are having a hard time understanding climate change as being a threat as immediate as COVID-19. He acknowledged that developing countries face difficulties with the higher costs of most carbon-free energy sources, but despite his talk of “pleading” with governments, he reiterated the threat that he has been delivering since the August 2019 Jackson Hole international bankers summit: “Industries, companies and countries that are forward thinking about how we are adapting are going to be the ones that benefit [while from] those that deny this, or are unwilling to make changes, you’re going to see a reallocation [of capital] away from them.”
