The biggest asset manager in the world has narrowed down three primary themes that will drive and impact thematic markets this year, which were all about resilience.
For BlackRock, supply chain resistance, climate resilience and macro resilience were three areas of growth it said would to be supported by regulation, societal changes and economics, plus the growing global push towards achieving net zero targets.
Supply chain resilience has been a continuous market topic since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the following global shutdown revealed the overreliance on certain areas for specific assets and domestic goods.
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This was exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which amplified issues with consumer supply chain and catalysed a shortage in the energy space.
As a result, BlackRock said companies were increasingly recognise the importance of more resilient supply chains as geopolitics potentially impacts key resources.
With the global population surpassing eight billion people last year, BlackRock said this is an advancing level of pressure on evidently strained supply chains, putting pressure on healthcare, food resources and workforce availability.
It pointed to the US' Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 as an example of policymakers working to make more opportunities while keeping the global economy connected.
The Inflation Reduction Act also feeds into the greater environmental awareness trend the fund house is focused on, as the bill aims to accelerate investment in solar and wind power and support the building sector through incentives for energy efficiency in buildings, new homes and appliances.
This leads onto climate resilience, which combines with the above theme of lower or more stretched resources.
BlackRock said: "[The] transition to a lower carbon economy demands a transformation of the entire economy and decarbonisation is proceeding at different speeds across different industries."
It said while ESG insights are "imperative to mitigate risks and enhance long-term returns", it was also crucial to "to identify sustainable companies allowing the world ‘to do more with less'", as well as those that will drive the decarbonisation trend.
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Energy security was a dominant topic in 2022 as a result of the Ukraine war, and Alastair Bishop, manager on the BlackRock Fundamental Equities fund, said the political focus on this "was a key catalyst for low carbon investing".
Outside of energy, the pressure on natural resources has been heighted due to factors such as the aforementioned aging population, but also the realisation that in order to achieve a global green energy shift some carbon intensive practices are needed to bridge the gap.
The final theme was macro resilience, which encompasses higher inflation and interest rates and navigating the different drivers and beneficiaries of this economic backdrop.
BlackRock said although inflation may come down slightly this year, many catalysts of it are not yet back to pre-Covid levels.
The above factors of greater protectionism by counties, aging populations and investment in the energy transitions "may all contribute to inflation sustaining above central banks targets".
This means there is an even greater level of differentiation between different companies' valuations.
