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BlackRock Names Sustainable Investment Co-Heads For Asia
The firm, which has more AuM than all the sovereign wealth funds combined - and huge market leverage - has committed to overseeing $1 trillion in sustainable assets by 2030. That such a firm can wield such a large investment club gives it great influence in the ESG debate.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with $8.7 trillion in client money, as of the end of 2020, has named co-heads of its sustainable investing capability in Asia-Pacific.
The firm has appointed head of iShares Asia-Pacific Distribution, Geir Espeskog, and former senior AMP Capital manager, Emily Woodland, to the roles.
Espeskog, based in Hong Kong since 2015, joined BlackRock in 2010 with iShares in London where he was “instrumental,” the firm said, in building its Nordic iShares franchise.
Woodland, also based in Hong Kong, had previously been head of sustainable investment at AMP - a post she had held since 2018. She has more than 16 years of investment experience with UBS dating back to 2000, including work in equity and convertible bond trading, as a portfolio manager with the firm’s Fundamental Investment Group, and five years as a portfolio manager with the long/short absolute return hedge fund portfolio at UBS Asset Management.
“Last year we announced our ambition to have $1 trillion in sustainable assets under management by 2030. Already, we are witnessing this phenomenal opportunity with accelerating flows into sustainable strategies. Asia is a keystone in advancing the growth of sustainable investing globally,” Philipp Hildebrand, global head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, said.