World's largest asset manager shifts focus to climate change

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, will make climate change central to its investment decisions going forward. Founder and CEO Laurence Fink, who oversees the management of about $7 trillion in funds, said in his influential annual letter to CEOs Tuesday that he believes we are "on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance" because of a warming planet.

Climate change has become the top issue raised by clients, Fink said, and it will affect everything from municipal bonds to long-term mortgages for homes. The New York firm is taking immediate action, exiting investments in coal used to generate power, and it will begin asking clients to disclose their climate-related risks.