Climate activists have blocked the entrance to the Dublin offices of the world's largest asset management company calling on it to divest from fossil funds.
Members of Extinction Rebellion Ireland protested outside the offices of BlackRock in Ballsbridge saying: "Every tenth of a degree of warming matters in this climate crisis".
Spokesman for group Manuel Salazar added: "We are in a critical time window now where we must urgently act to avoid a level of warming that leads 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."
Two members of the group glued themselves to the front door of the building in an attempt to disrupt business there.
Sinead Whelan, a student at UCD said: "At this time in the climate crisis it's absolutely obscene for people to be investing in fossil fuels when we know that is going to have catastrophic impacts in the future, and already is. Millions of people are suffering natural disasters and food insecurity".
She said the group had chosen civil disobedience as a last resort and because it has proven to be effective elsewhere.
Blackrock Assets said that it is aiming that by 2030, 75% of its "corporate and sovereign assets [will be] managed on behalf of clients will be invested in issuers with science-based targets or equivalent".
However, it also said: "We expect to remain long-term investors in carbon-intensive companies, because they play crucial roles in the economy and in a successful transition."
In response to a query from RTÉ News about the protest outside its Dublin office, BlackRock Assets issued a statement that said: "The money we manage is not our own - it belongs to our clients, many of whom make their own asset allocation and portfolio construction decisions.
"BlackRock's role in the transition to a low-carbon economy is as a fiduciary: we provide choice to our clients; we seek the best risk-adjusted returns within the mandate our clients give us; and we underpin our work with research, data, and analytics".
