Through the first seven months of this year, U.S. investors launched 607 ESG and executive pay campaigns, up 25% compared to the first seven months of 2021. Just over half the campaigns (310) focused on environmental and social issues, almost double the 168 similar campaigns launched in all of last year. The data was included …
Has ESG Investing Peaked or Is It Just Changing? Read More »
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, officially known as the Government Pension Fund Global, issued last week a new, government approved climate action plan that requires its portfolio companies to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. “We will be a global leader in managing the financial risks and opportunities arising from climate change,” the fund noted …
Lawmakers in Switzerland on September 16 drafted a new proposal with the goal of cutting greenhouse emissions in half by 2030, more than a year since their first attempt to pass similar legislation was rebuffed by voters. In the most recent legislation drafted by the Swiss cabinet, the lawmakers have proposed spending $4.3 billion to …
After Voter Rejection, Switzerland Revises Plan for Climate Goals Read More »
In mid-August, Strive Asset Management launched an anti-ESG fund, the U.S. Energy ETF (DRLL). The fund has attracted around $312 million in investments since its launch. Strive’s executive chairman, Vivek Ramaswamy, said that the fund represents a lot of “everyday citizens” who object to other asset managers’ investment decisions that ostensibly “advance social and political …
S&P Dow Jones Indices and Sustainable1, an ESG intelligence provider, announced on earlier this month the launch of a group of climate-focused market benchmarks called the S&P Net Zero 2050 Carbon Budget Indices. The structure of these indices is based on the findings of the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. The most recent …
Stuart Kirk, head of HSBC Asset Management’s responsible investing business, compared last May the current concerns about the climate crisis to the Y2K bug doomsday predictions. During a presentation at a conference sponsored by the Financial Times, Kirk posted a slide with the following text: “Unsubstantiated, shrill, partisan, self-serving, apocalyptic warnings are ALWAYS wrong.” Kirk …
A nearly 100-year-old consumer research organization is providing powerful, and sometimes strident, anti-ESG messages, many of which have been directed at some of America’s largest and most well-known corporations. Consumers’ Research is a conservativ independent educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its stated mission is to “increase the knowledge and understanding of issues, policies, products, and services …
Consumer Organization Providing the Anti-ESG Message Read More »
Florida and Texas, two of the country’s most populous states, have recently enacted anti-ESG regulations. These regulations forbid state investment and pension fund managers from doing business with asset management firms and banks that consider environmental, social, and governance issues when making investment decisions. In mid-August, Arizona state treasurer notified Morningstar that the company had …
Anti-ESG Groups Adopt ESG Proxy Voting Tactics to Fight Back Read More »
In a press release last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed credit for eliminating environmental, social, and governance considerations from the state’s pension and investment funds. DeSantis is one of three Trustees of Florida’s State Board of Administration that passed a resolution directing the state’s fund managers not to consider ESG issues when making investment …
Florida Bars ESG Investment, Takes Back Proxy Voting Read More »
The American Banking Association has called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to revise its climate risk disclosure proposal for public companies. The SEC proposal requires the measurement, disclosure, and auditing of the greenhouse gases emitted, not only directly by a company, but also by its business partners up and downstream of the production process, …
Banking Group Pushes Back on SEC’s Climate Mandate Read More »
© 2023 Corporate Citizenship Project