With a combined $13.5 trillion in assets under management, fund manager BlackRock and investment management company State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) have a lot of clout in the marketplace. As do the opinions of BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink and SSGA CEO Cyrus Taraporevala, who each highlighted climate action and social issues among topics of importance in their respective annual letters for the coming year.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...