Amin H. Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, speaks during a news conference at the Plaza Conference Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia November 3, 2019.
Hamad Mohammed | Reuters
BlackRock said Monday that Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco CEO Amin Nasser is joining the asset manager’s board of directors.
The world’s largest asset manager said the move reflects the firm’s emphasis on the Middle East as part of its long-term strategy. BlackRock had more than $8 trillion in client assets under management as of 2022.
“Amin’s distinguished career at Aramco, spanning more than four decades, gives him a unique perspective on many of the key issues facing our firm and our clients,” Larry Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, said in a statement.
“His leadership experience, understanding of the global energy industry and the drivers of the shift towards a low carbon economy, as well as his knowledge of the Middle East region, will all contribute meaningfully to the BlackRock Board dialogue,” Fink added.
Nasser has held the top position at Aramco since 2015. He oversaw the public listing of the oil company in 2019. In 2021, Aramco announced its proposal to achieve net-zero gas emissions by 2050.
BlackRock has been at the forefront of the industry adoption of environmental, social and corporate governance guidelines and strategies. The firm, which sells a number of “sustainable” funds, has come under fire for its fossil fuel investments, while becoming a political punching bag with both Democrats and Republicans criticizing its ESG policies.
In Aug. 2022, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar targeted BlackRock, putting the asset manager on a list of financial companies that “boycott energy companies.”
Fink said previously that asset managers like BlackRock are not “the environmental police,” but it is BlackRock’s fiduciary duty to give investors access to the best and most complete information to make their financial investment decisions, and that includes climate data.
“As I have said consistently over many years now, it is for governments to make policy and enact legislation, and not for companies, including asset managers, to be the environmental police,” Fink wrote n his annual letter.
One of its popular ESG exchange-traded funds, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF, has nearly $15 billion in assets under management.