Question
BlackRock is the world's largest asset management corporation. In January 2020, Larry Fink, the CEO and Chairman of BlackRock, issued an annual letter titled A
BlackRock is the world's largest asset management corporation. In January 2020, Larry Fink, the CEO and Chairman of BlackRock, issued an annual letter titled A Fundamental Reshaping of Finance1 to Chief Executives of companies in which BlackRock invests. In this letter, BlackRock announces several sustainability initiatives, recognises climate risk as investment risk, and urges companies to improve their financial disclosure to shareholders in relation to climate risks. As part of the initiatives, BlackRock begins to exit investments that present a high sustainability-related risk, such as thermal coal producers. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) commented that BlackRocks initiatives might lead to review and likely divestment of Australian coal companies such as Whitehaven Coal and Yancoal. Required: Assume you are a business consultant, reporting to the board of directors of Yancoal Australia Limited, Australia's largest pure-coal producer. Yancoal is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. You have been contracted to provide a report to Yancoals Board of Directors which: 1. Explains, taking an agency theory lens, why BlackRock revised its investing practices to consider climate risk as an investment risk. (Suggested words: 600) 2. Evaluates, taking an institutional theory lens, whether Yancoal will provide climate-changerelated risk disclosures. (Suggested words: 600) 3. Refers to Yancoals 2018 annual and sustainability reports for the year ended 31 December 2018,2,3 and a) evaluates whether Yancoal has provided any/adequate climate-change-related risk disclosures in these reports, and b) provides recommendations for preparation of, or improvement on, the climate-change-related risk disclosures for its 2019 reports for the year ended 31 December 2019 which will be released in April 2020. (
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