ClientEarth v. BlackRock

In October 2024, ClientEarth filed a complaint against BlackRock with the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF), also known as the Autorité des Marchés financiers. ClientEarth targeted 18 actively managed retail investment funds that were marketed in France as sustainable. ClientEarth notes that these funds hold more than US$ $1 billion in fossil fuel investment. As a result, ClientEarth claims that BlackRock violates the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) by holding inconsistent investments to gain an unfair competitive advantage. Second, ClientEarth claims that BlackRock failed the ‘do not cause significant harm’ test of the SFDR, which requires investment funds promoting environmental benefits to make additional sustainability disclosures on their websites and in pre-contractual and periodic reporting. All of which, ClientEarth claims, BlackRock failed to do. In response, BlackRock announced changes to its funds previously titled sustainable or ESG. Fourteen of the funds dropped the "sustainable" title from their names, while the rest applied stricter fossil fuel exclusions. BlackRock claims these changes were in response to new disclosure polices by the European Securities and Markets Authority. Despite these changes, ClientEarth will continue to keep its complaint with the AMF. The financial regulator has not indicated whether the case will move forward.