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BlackRock’s support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social issues has fallen to a fraction of its 2021 peak, it disclosed on Wednesday, even as its support for governance-related questions rose.

In the 12 months to the end of June, BlackRock supported just 20 of the 493 environmental and social proposals put forward by shareholders at annual meetings, or about 4 per cent of the total, according to its annual investment stewardship report.

That compares with a high of 47 per cent in 2021. By last year the figure had fallen to 7 per cent.

The decline in support comes as companies’ efforts to address climate change and inequality — issues that were once bundled together with governance under the ESG umbrella — have become politically fraught.

Conservatives have accused BlackRock and other large asset managers of using their large holdings to pursue “woke capitalism”, while the left has complained that investors have failed to push hard enough for decarbonisation.

But governance-related activities seeking to protect shareholder rights and promote strong boards have escaped similar criticism.

The $10.6tn asset manager said that it had voted on a record 867 shareholder proposals overall, but had found very few of those on environmental and social issues to be in the best interest of its clients.

Many of this year’s proposals were “overly prescriptive, lacking economic merit or asking companies to address material risks they are already managing”, wrote Joud Abdel Majeid, BlackRock’s global head of investment stewardship.

The number of no votes was lifted this year by BlackRock’s uniform opposition to 88 conservative-backed anti-ESG resolutions seeking to prevent companies from addressing such issues.

The world’s largest money manager voted in favour of 79 of the 374 governance proposals it considered, or 21 per cent, up from 11 per cent last year. Among the most common were proposals to introduce simple majority voting, rather than requiring a supermajority.

BlackRock’s lack of enthusiasm for environmental and social proposals contributed to low overall support for such measures at many corporate annual meetings.

The median support for environmental and social shareholder proposals at Russell 3000 companies was 21 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, this year, according to data from ISS-Corporate. Only two climate-related questions received majority support.

Globally, BlackRock supported 88 per cent of proposals put forward by the companies it invests in, including 82 per cent of those related to pay. It also backed 90 per cent of company-nominated directors, similar to its voting in previous years.

It said its main reasons for opposing directors were lack of independence, membership on too many boards and concerns about executive compensation.

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Walmart has cut its stake in Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com to zero, as the world’s largest retailer focuses on expanding its own brands in the country.

The US retailer disclosed in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it had entirely disposed of its nearly 10 per cent holding in the ecommerce company.

Walmart reported owning 289mn shares of JD.com as of December 31, which would have been worth $4bn at the end of trading in New York on Tuesday.

JD.com separately said it had spent $390mn repurchasing its own shares in a transaction on Wednesday. Hong Kong-listed shares of the group fell by as much as 12 per cent in early trading.

Walmart first acquired a stake in the group in 2016 in exchange for the sale of its Chinese ecommerce site Yihaodian to JD.com. Walmart nearly doubled its holding later that year by continuing to invest in the Chinese group.

The deals spurred growing collaboration between the two retailers, including Walmart and its Sam’s Club unit launching stores on JD.com’s ecommerce platform and a delivery partnership in some Chinese cities. 

But JD.com has faced growing ecommerce competition in China from rising rival Pinduoduo as well as Alibaba. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that PDD has now displaced JD.com as the second-largest ecommerce company in China.

JD.com increased revenues 1 per cent from a year earlier in the second quarter, bolstering its bottom line by cutting back on the discounts offered to shoppers.

“Walmart invested nearly 10 years ago when JD.com and the ecommerce market were growing really fast,” said Li Chengdong, the head of Chinese tech think-tank Haitun. “The stake allowed them to learn from JD. Now they are doing well on their own in China, so the strategic value of the stake has ended.”

Walmart has increasingly focused on building up its own China business, with its Sam’s Club warehouse outlets gaining popularity among China’s discerning, cost-conscious shoppers.

The US retailer said it would maintain co-operation with JD.com and that the sale “allows us to better focus on the strong development of China, including the operation of Walmart Supercenter and Sam’s Club, and allocate assets to other priorities”.

The company added that it “has achieved success in various markets around the world by adjusting its asset portfolio in a timely manner”.

The group’s China business sales grew 16 per cent to $17bn in its latest financial year ended January 31, though the market contributed to less than 4 per cent of total sales.

Walmart’s share disposal comes after JD.com’s other major partner, Chinese social media group Tencent, distributed nearly all of its 17 per cent stake in the group to shareholders in 2022.

JD.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Additional reporting by William Sandlund in Hong Kong