Oxford University, which is six months into a plan to sell out of its investments in fossil fuels, has hired BlackRock to run a portion of its money and recruited Huw van Steenis, the influential financier, to its investment committee.

BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund manager, will launch a new version of its iShares Developed World index fund that avoids investments in fossil fuel companies, it said in a statement on 10 November. The company said this would be done in “collaboration” with the Oxford University endowment, but did not say how much Oxford will be investing.