Blackrock CEO Larry Fink calls on shareholders to make sure their portfolio companies take action on climate change in a speech after the G20 at the International Conference on Climate, hosted by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Bank of Italy in Venice on Sunday, July 11.

He emphasized the need to focus on private as well as public companies.

Second, as we move forward with the energy transition, we need to make sure that we are pushing just as hard on the demand side as we are on the supply side. Otherwise, we risk a supply crisis that drives up costs for consumers – especially those who can least afford it – and risks making the transition politically untenable. 

The gap in cost between clean technologies and those that emit greater amounts of greenhouse gases is still enormous for most things, and we need to work to bring down the green premium. Rising oil prices will only mean greater dependence on coal in the emerging world, therefore we have to manage the supply and demand curve more effectively.

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Third and finally, we need to rethink how we are going to attract the necessary capital to facilitate the transition in the emerging markets.