Outgoing New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has urged trustees of the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS) to replace BlackRock and Fidelity Investments as asset managers, citing what he described as inadequate decarbonisation strategies.
NYCERS last week tabled Lander’s recommendation to terminate mandates with the two firms, deferring a decision until January. The proposal had been scheduled for a vote at the pension system’s monthly investment meeting on 17 December.
Lander, whose term ends on 31 December, had also recommended removing PanAgora Asset Management, but said he has since reversed that position after the firm submitted what he described as an “enhanced net-zero plan”.
In November, Lander had called on the city’s pension funds to move away from all three managers. As of August, BlackRock managed USD 42.3 billion in assets for the city’s pension systems, including public equity portfolios, while Fidelity oversaw USD 384 million for one of the funds.
The outgoing comptroller said his recommendation to drop BlackRock and Fidelity followed a “rigorous evaluation” which concluded that the firms were misaligned with the pension funds’ net-zero objectives. In April, he had asked all asset managers for the city’s pensions to submit details of their decarbonisation strategies and how they integrate climate-related risks into investment decisions.
New York City’s pension system works with 49 asset managers and oversees retirement savings for more than 750,000 city employees.
Lander’s November recommendations were outlined in an update to the Net-Zero Implementation Plan covering NYCERS, the Teachers’ Retirement System and the Board of Education Retirement System. The report raised concerns about BlackRock’s “restrictive approach” to corporate engagement and Fidelity’s practice of voluntarily applying US Securities and Exchange Commission engagement guidance to both US and non-US companies.
“As BlackRock’s Larry Fink said in 2020, ‘climate risk is financial risk’. Unfortunately, BlackRock in 2025 is failing to act like it,” Lander said. While expressing disappointment over the trustees’ decision to delay a vote, he said he hoped the recommendation would be adopted early next year.
Lander added that issuing a search notice for BlackRock’s public equity mandates would allow the pension system to reassess managers that can deliver risk-adjusted returns while aligning with the fund’s investment policies, including on climate transition.
BlackRock responded in November by accusing the outgoing comptroller of politicising pension funds and “undermining the retirement security” of New York City’s workers. The firm said it would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the value it delivers to the city’s Bureau of Asset Management and public servants if the recommendation proceeds.
PanAgora currently manages a USD 358 million portfolio of US small-cap equities for NYCERS and the Teachers’ Retirement System. Lander said the firm’s revised decarbonisation plan showed a “serious commitment to climate action,” prompting him to withdraw his earlier recommendation to remove the manager.
