US investors collectively account for 58% of institutional investments in global coal industry

Written by Adam Cadle

25/02/2021

US investors collectively account for 58% of institutional investments in the global coal industry, making them them the single largest provider of institutional investment to companies on the Global Coat Exit List.

According to research published by Urgewald, Reclaim Finance, Rainforest Action Network, 350.org Japan and 25 further NGO partners, 4,488 institutional investors held investments totalling US$1.03trn in companies operating along the thermal coal value chain in January 2021.

The world’s largest institutional investor in the coal industry is the US mutual fund company Vanguard with holdings of almost US$86bn. It is closely followed by BlackRock, which holds investments of over US$84bn in the coal industry. Together, Vanguard and BlackRock account for 17% of institutional investments in the global coal industry.

“While many large EU investors have begun screening coal companies out of their portfolios, the vast majority of US investors have refused to adopt coal exit policies. Our research underscores how dire the consequences of this failure are,” Katrin Ganswindt said, who is a member of the team at Urgewald looking at coal-exit campaigns.

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