By Simon Jessop

LONDON (Reuters] -BlackRock, world’s largest asset manager, announced on Thursday that it had voted against more than 800 directors of companies during an Asia-dominated quarter of annual general meetings.

Most votes, which totalled 320, were cast in response to concern about the independence of directors. 227 votes went to issues regarding boardroom diversity and 113 to pay concerns. 80 votes related to directors who have too many jobs.

These votes came after 571 interactions with 520 different companies. This was in line with the previous year, when governance was most discussed topic.

It was also stated that more than half the meeting’s participants discussed climate change and natural capital. This covers topics such as water use and deforestation.

According to it, the AGMs of North American and European companies were held in the first quarter. Asia-Pacific businesses accounted for over half of 2,430 meetings that took place in the three months ending September.

BlackRock (NYSE 🙂 was not the only one feeling the heat. Adani Enterprises, based in India, has been trying to take a more aggressive approach to climate-related problems over the past year.

BlackRock stated that the Committee must be “ultimately held accountable” for any increased environmental risk resulting from the Carmichael Mine in Australia.

BlackRock said that it was against the proposal for giving its board discretion to raise as much as $335 million of fresh equity. This is despite concerns about how it might be used to finance controversial projects.

It said that despite BlackRock’s resistance, the two sides passed easily given Adani Group’s 75% share in Adani Enterprises.

“(BlackRock) remains concerned regarding the environmental and social risks associated with the Carmichael Mine project, Adani Enterprises’ increasing coal exposures and the company’s overall potential impact on key stakeholders,” it said.

Adani Enterprises has not yet responded to my request for comment.