BlackRock has lost a mandate worth EUR14.5 billion ($21.77 billion) with one of the largest pension funds in the Netherlands, amid concerns the world’s biggest money manager isn’t acting in the best interests of clients when it comes to climate risk.
PFZW, which oversees about EUR250 billion, will instead rely on Robeco, Man Numeric, Acadian, Lazard, Schroders, M&G, UBS and PGGM to oversee an equity portfolio worth some EUR50 billion, a spokesperson for the pensions manager told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
A BlackRock representative said the asset manager “noted PFZW’s redemption in the first half of 2025”, adding that it continues to help clients, including those in the Netherlands, meet their sustainable investing goals.
PFZW has “always voted their portfolio with BlackRock themselves,” and BlackRock offers “eligible clients” the option to “participate in the stewardship of their assets”, the representative said.
PFZW is the latest asset owner to voice discontent with US money managers that have retreated from climate alliances amid an all-out assault on net-zero policies by the White House.
PME, another Dutch pensions manager, told Bloomberg earlier this year it’s reviewing its mandate with BlackRock, valued at some EUR5 billion.
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“PFZW has been developing a new investment strategy where financial performance, risk and sustainability are weighed equally within the framework of a total portfolio approach,” the fund said in an emailed comment.
Its mandate with BlackRock was valued at EUR14.5 billion as of the end of March, which is the latest period for which PFZW was able to provide a figure, the spokesperson said. PFZW said it continues to invest in BlackRock money market funds.
PGGM, which handles investments for Dutch pension funds, said PFZW was also pulling a EUR15 billion mandate it had had with Legal & General. A spokesperson for L&G declined to comment.
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Dutch pension funds have been under pressure from a local non-profit, Fossil Free Netherlands, to end their ties with BlackRock. The Break with BlackRock initiative asked savers to urge their pension funds to act, and thousands have done so, according to the nonprofit’s website.
PMT, another Dutch pension fund, said BlackRock manages a passive equity portfolio that’s built around a benchmark that the fund has created and which determines “where to invest”, according to a spokesperson. ABP, the largest pension fund in the Netherlands, said it requires external managers to follow its responsible investment policy.
The role asset managers play in addressing climate change remains a topic of debate. Firms including BlackRock argue that clients have different investment goals that it’s obliged to respect.
Still, the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change recommends that asset owners engage with managers on “the need for net zero-aligned policy advocacy and wider industry stewardship.” IIGCC also recommends against leaving voting to asset managers.
Dutch media outlet NRC Handelsblad reported earlier that PFZW was making changes to its approach to asset management that included dropping BlackRock.
PME plans to decide on its BlackRock mandate before the end of the year, a spokesperson said on Wednesday, noting that the firm has had “several” exchanges with the US asset manager over the past year.
Back in May, PME’s senior strategist for responsible investing, Daan Spaargaren, told Bloomberg the EUR57 billion pension manager’s concern was that BlackRock wasn’t doing enough to distance itself from the anti-climate rhetoric of the administration of US President Donald Trump.
BlackRock and other US asset managers “aren’t condemning what Trump is doing and how he is operating and how he is handling issues like climate change and demolishing the judiciary”, Spaargaren said at the time. “We are worried about that.”
