While the Dutch pension fund PFZW recently withdrew a mandate from BlackRock, several key players in the French pension system continue to entrust investments to the American asset manager. Agirc-Arrco, ERAFP, and Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) are thus teaming up with a manager known for its massive support to fossil fuel expansion and its recent climate backtracking, despite being responsible for securing our future. Reclaim Finance calls on these institutions to adopt science-based climate criteria when selecting a new manager to manage our pensions, and to publicly oppose BlackRock’s climate-damaging practices.
Agirc-Arrco is the compulsory supplementary pension scheme for private sector employees, and ERAFP is the one for permanent and trainee civil servants. Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) is a public fund created to building up reserves to contribute to the sustainability of the French pension system. Agirc-Arrco manages 86 billion euros in financial assets at the end of 2024, ERAFP 48 and FRR 20. In a recent report, Reclaim Finance explained that French pensions are partly delegated to external asset managers, some of whom have practices that run counter to the transition.
BlackRock, the best friend of fossil fuel expansion
Although BlackRock has made grand statements about climate risks in the past and joined climate alliances that it has now left [1], the facts paint a very different picture: its actions are locking in dependence on fossil fuels.
In May 2024, BlackRock held 431 billion dollars in shares and bonds of companies developing new fossil fuel projects [2], including a significant part of the capital of oil and gas giants such as TotalEnergies [3]. The asset manager has no plans to reduce its support to fossil fuel expansion and continues to invest heavily in these companies. BlackRock invested at least 1.7 billion dollars in recent bonds issued by fossil fuel developers between 2023 and 2024, even though these bond issuances enable fossil fuel companies to finance their new fossil fuel projects [4].
BlackRock is also an ally of fossil fuel developers in its votes at annual general meetings. In 2024, the asset manager voted in favour of 90% of the actions of the board of directors of the world’s largest fossil fuel developers. And BlackRock supported only 2% of environmental and social shareholder resolutions in 2025, after approving 40% in 2021, representing a sharp decline.
Its lobbying activities are also delaying the necessary transition. In Europe, BlackRock has opposed the use of sector exclusions in a response to a public consultation of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and in the context of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). And in the United States, the conservative lobby group Business Roundtable, of which BlackRock’s CEO is a member, has recommended a ban on ESG shareholder resolutions.
BlackRock and French pension bodies: an unnatural relationship
To date, Agirc-Arrco, ERAFP and FRR all use BlackRock’s services. FRR entrusted the American asset manager with mandates in 2021 and 2022, for five and four years respectively. At the end of 2023, ERAFP delegated an equity mandate to BlackRock for at least six years. ERAFP also selected BlackRock as the manager for some standby mandates in 2021, 2022 and 2023, thereby reserving the right to activate these mandates for at least five years. However, none of these pension bodies disclosed the amount of investments entrusted to BlackRock.
Even though they require BlackRock to invest according to their rules, or sometimes delegate to the manager mandates with sustainability requirements [5], BlackRock’s overall practices undermine the climate commitments of French pension bodies and contradict scientific recommendations. Agirc-Arrco, ERAFP and FRR are therefore endorsing BlackRock’s support to fossil fuel expansion and its obstruction of the 1.5°C target, which is supposedly the trajectory being followed by these institutions.
Furthermore, avoiding collaboration with BlackRock is an integral part of the fiduciary duty of these institutional investors, in order to protect their portfolios and beneficiaries. The consequences of climate change are causing significant losses for the economy as a whole and therefore for financial portfolios [6], threatening the future of pension contributors – particularly younger generations – in the coming decades.
European pension funds are already breaking with BlackRock
Unlike their French counterparts, more and more European pension funds are turning their backs on BlackRock or planning to sever ties with the asset manager in the near future. In early September, the second-largest Dutch pension fund, PFZW, withdrew a 14-billion-euro mandate from BlackRock, citing sustainability concerns [7]. Other pension funds, including PME in the Netherlands and AP7 in Sweden, announced that they were considering not renewing mandates with BlackRock due to its departure from the NZAM initiative [8].
Other asset managers with dangerous climate practices have also lost clients. The British pension fund The People’s Pension and the Danish pension fund Akademiker Pension have withdrawn mandates from State Street because of its poor ESG practices.
While ERAFP and FRR recently joined a coalition of institutional investors calling on their managers to strengthen their climate stewardship [9], it is high time for them to put their money where their mouth is by sanctioning asset managers who fail to act consistently with a science-based 1.5°C trajectory [10].
As the climate crisis worsens, it is urgent that French pension bodies take responsibility. Reclaim Finance calls on them to adopt science-based climate criteria – particularly regarding the end of support to fossil fuel expansion – when selecting a new manager, and to publicly oppose BlackRock’s climate-damaging practices.
