BlackRock Leads ESG Investors Calling for More and Better Data

If you want investors to make the world a better place, give them better data.

That’s the plea from fund giants including BlackRock Inc. and Australia’s Aware Super Pty, who say they need far richer and more granular data on everything from staff ethnicity to climate-change exposure in order to better scrutinize environmental, social and governance factors within companies.

At a gathering of investors in Sydney on Wednesday, BlackRock’s Iris Davila said she sought greater transparency of information about company employees from senior managers down to low-level staff. The head of the firm’s Australia stewardship team said data such ...