Climate activists glue themselves to door of BlackRock investment firm in fossil fuel protest

Gardaí were called to the Dublin offices of the world’s largest investment management firm, BlackRock, after climate activists glued themselves to the main entrance.

Access through the revolving front door of the Ballsbridge building was blocked for several hours as a result of the action on Monday.

Two dozen activists from Extinction Rebellion Ireland arrived at the offices at midday with banners calling on BlackRock to stop investing in fossil fuels.

They glued posters to the windows stating facts about climate change and poured fake black oil on the ground outside.

Gardaí warned the group that those who glued themselves or the posters to the property would be investigated for criminal damage.

Eight gardaí and several patrol vehicles maintained a visible presence at the premises.

Sineaid Whelan (19), a politics and Spanish student, was one of those glued to the door.

“We have been preparing for this for a couple of months and it definitely wasn’t a whim decision,” she said.

“It’s something that has to be done at this point – the climate crisis means we have to do it.”

Fellow student, Pasha Fedjukoves (22), who also glued his hand to the door said the actions of companies like BlackRock was unacceptable.

“It’s outrageous and we can’t let them get away with it,” he said.

“It's very important, especially for younger people to start doing this kind of stuff because realistically it’s our world that they’re destroying. We need to fight to keep it.”

The pair remained glued for several hours before voluntarily allowing fellow protestors to remove the solvent.

Extinction Rebellion Ireland said the action would be the start of a planned series of demonstrations against fossil fuel investors.

Spokesman Manuel Salazar said companies were making huge profits from prolonging fossil fuel use at the expense of the planet.

“Every tenth of a degree of warming matters in this climate crisis,” he said.

“We are in a critical time window now where we must urgently act to avoid a level of warming that lead to the worst case scenarios of climate catastrophe and we can’t just stand by and allow giant, wealthy corporations like BlackRock to jeopardise our chances.”

Contacted for comment, a BlackRock spokesperson said that the money it managed belonged to clients, not the company.

“BlackRock’s role in the transition to a low-carbon economy is as a fiduciary,” the spokesperson said.

"We provide choice to our clients, we seek the best risk-adjusted returns within the mandate our clients give us.”

The company also referenced a letter from its chief executive Larry Fink on the subject in which he said that divesting from carbon-intensive assets would simply push them out of the public market into the private market and “will not get the world to net zero”.