By Davide Barbuscia and Ross Kerber
(Reuters) -BlackRock Inc President Robert Kapito's remarks during a financial conference on Thursday were interrupted several times by questions on the company's climate change responsibilities.
Kapito was talking about bonds at the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Securities Financial Services Conference in New York when someone at the event shouted questions about BlackRock’s responsibility to exit investments in fossil fuels.
The panel moderator, Craig Siegenthaler, managing director at BofA Global Research, asked to call security and Kapito said he would respond "at the appropriate time, not interrupting the event".
The live webcast from BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)'s website switched to playing music. This happened twice more over the next few minutes. It was not immediately clear who was interrupting the event.
Climate activists have targeted BlackRock for years, asking the world’s largest asset manager to stop investing in fossil fuel companies, or to push them harder to cut emissions.
BlackRock has rejected the idea of divesting from fossil fuels, saying instead it wants to engage with companies on the transition to a low-carbon economy.
BlackRock has projected that by 2030 at least three quarters of its investments in companies and governments will be with issuers that have scientific targets to cut net greenhouse gas emissions.
It says its role as a fiduciary to clients "is to help them navigate investment risks and opportunities, not to engineer a specific decarbonization outcome in the real economy," according to a statement on its website.
The stance has drawn criticism from many sides in the debate, with environmentalists protesting it does too little to press for change at oil, gas and coal companies in its portfolio even as Republican U.S. politicians from energy-producing states accuse it of boycotting that industry.