BlackRock Took ESG Fund Hit in Third Quarter, Morningstar Says

For the first time in at least 3 1/2 years, BlackRock Inc. has seen clients withdraw more cash from its ESG funds in Europe than they allocated amid an apparent retreat from passive strategies, according to a fresh analysis by Morningstar Direct.

Investors with the world’s largest asset manager pulled $2.2 billion, net, from European-domiciled sustainable open-ended and exchange-traded funds, according to third-quarter data compiled for Bloomberg by Morningstar. The market researcher, whose calculations are based on its own definition of sustainable, provided data going back 14 quarters, when Europe enforced its investing rulebook for environmental, social and governance disclosures. ...