Environmental, Social & Governance ESG

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">8 22 primary on SEC rule massive ctr-attack, 1st amend compelled sp BS</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">musk vendetta on stock hit</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">related to CSR?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bak 9 22 html&nbsp;</font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">endit1</span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><a href="https://redgreenandblue.org/2022/11/17/rightwing-disinformation-machine-goes-war-esg/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://redgreenandblue.org/2022/11/17/rightwing-disinformation-machine-goes-war-esg/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">over the weekend, a special edition of COP, Look, Listen featured network analysis from Graphika, which showed that the anti-environmental, social, and governance (ESG) campaign has become a meeting ground for general rightwing twitter posters, and the climate disinfo-specific actors.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Graphika’s map of 13,000 accounts who tweeted about ESG in October.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Climate Denier Roundup</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While their advanced network mapping of followers and content consumption used to showed that the climate disinformation group was a distinct sub-set of conservative accounts, now “computationally speaking, climate denialists in our analysis are no longer defined as distinct from right-wing culture wars influencers.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Graphika found that “influencers in this group do the work of framing and amplifying climate topics as a culture wars issue, making it more palatable for a broader right-wing audience, beyond the usual climate denial community.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The top-performing ESG post, out of 13,000 tweets in October mentioning the acronym, was from Consumers Research, a group funded by conservative activist Leonard A. Leo as part of his billion-dollar “anti-woke” campaign.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps unsurprisingly given the financial resources at their disposal, right-leaning actors got more engagement, by far, than the International Environmental Community network.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite the fact that environmentalists tweeted way more content about ESG investing, Graphika found that “engagement from ideologically driven accounts far outweighs more consistent, reliable messaging on sustainable investing. It’s not the topic, but rather the divisive framing that wins attention and engagement.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Which means “the climate community needs to double down on support for campaigns to keep greenwashing out of ESG, as companies look for opportunities to backslide on commitments to appease critics. Because social media algorithms amplify salacious content over quality, those spreading outlandish disinformation are rewarded while those posting the (sometimes dry or technical) truth are shouted over.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With their billion-dollar backing and an assist from Big Tech, the Infowars Investors are dominating the digital discussion of ESG issues, and in the course of doing so, have managed to fully merge climate disinfo-specific and general rightwing audiences.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s the epic crossover event absolutely no one wanted.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Originally appeared at DailyKos)</font></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2022/09/06/esg-companies-bankroll-gop-ags-the-very-officials-retaliating-against-their-climate-goals/">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/<b>2022/09/</b>06/esg-companies-bankroll-gop-ags-the-very-officials-retaliating-against-their-climate-goals/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">alex k</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) investigation has identified more than two dozen major U.S. companies that are publicly committed to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles yet have recently donated large amounts of campaign cash to a group of Republican state attorneys general that is hyper-focused on eroding air and water regulations, promoting fossil fuel companies, and using state governments to punish companies that try to limit their climate-related risks by divesting from oil, gas, and coal.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Republican attorneys general, along with fellow GOP governors and state financial officers, are weaponizing their public offices to prevent action on climate change. Their latest efforts seek to bar companies that divest from fossil fuels or employ other ESG principles from receiving government contracts.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">And yet large U.S. companies such as <b>AT&T, Cigna, Citigroup, Lowe’s, Pfizer, T-Mobile, and UPS</b>—all of which publicly promote their commitment to ESG—have recently funded the political prosperity of these Republican AGs.</font></span></p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contradictory Takes on Climate Change</font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">“Climate change is one of the most pressing global challenges,” the multinational brewing company Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) acknowledges in its&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ab-inbev.com/assets/pdfs/ABINBEV_ESG%202021_Final.pdf#page=22" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">2021 ESG report</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;for investors. “Our evolved understanding of potential climate-related risks and opportunities across our value chain continues to inform our long-term strategy.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">AB InBev has set an ambitious climate goal for 2025, aiming to reduce its carbon emissions by 25% and purchase 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by then. In joining the international&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.there100.org/re100-members?items_per_page=All" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">RE100</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;initiative to switch to 100% renewables, the company intends to achieve&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ab-inbev.com/sustainability/climate-action/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">net zero</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">But the beer giant is one of the largest corporate funders of the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_Attorneys_General_Association" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican Attorneys General Association</a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;(RAGA)</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, a group of powerful state officials that has long attacked environmental regulations in the U.S. Members of RAGA—which receives substantial&nbsp;</span></span><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2019/12/12/gop-state-attorneys-general-fight-environmental-regulations-fossil-fuel-companies-bankroll-campaigns/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">funding</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;from fossil fuel companies to support the reelection campaigns of these AGs—have filed legal challenges against Obama-era air and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://ago.wv.gov/Documents/2017.06.19%20WOTUS%20Comments.PDF" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">water pollution</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;regulations. Former Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt is among those who have&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.html?r=0" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">worked directly with fossil fuel lobbyists</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;to challenge these laws.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Numerous other corporations have given large sums to RAGA for this year’s elections while publicly committing to ESG principles and, in many cases, to direct climate action.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">RAGA recently scored a big win in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/climate/supreme-court-climate-epa.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">West Virginia v. EPA</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;when the right-wing justices who now dominate the Supreme Court ruled against the agency,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.drilledpodcast.com/supreme-negligence/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">preventing</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;the Biden administration from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act without going back to Congress for explicit authorization.</span></font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Retaliating Against “Energy Discrimination”&nbsp;</font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the Right gets more extreme in the U.S., climate-denying Republicans have added a new weapon to their arsenal: attacking financial firms that decrease their investments in fossil fuels.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">GOP attorneys general and financial officers are joining state lawmakers in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/12/03/alec-launches-attack-on-banks-that-divest-from-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">penalizing</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;investment firms that divest from fossil fuel companies. Although they are members of a political party ostensibly committed to a free market, these GOP officials are meddling in corporate decision-making by trying to prevent executives from limiting the enormous financial risk posed by the effects of climate change—likely the biggest economic challenge of the century.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As with their outcry about critical race theory supposedly being taught in American schools, GOP politicians are attempting to cast climate action as a culture war issue, branding routine practices such as ESG disclosures to investors and divesting from a waning fossil fuel industry as “woke.”</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">In 2021, Texas enacted a law to root out alleged “energy discrimination,” seeking to prevent investment firms that decrease their stakes in oil, gas, and coal from managing the state’s pension and other funds. After the law passed, the energy task force of the ultra-conservative, corporate-funded&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;(ALEC) approved a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/12/03/alec-launches-attack-on-banks-that-divest-from-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">model bill</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;with similar language, directing state treasurers or comptrollers to maintain a list of firms that have divested from fossil fuels and to only issue government contracts to businesses with more than 10 employees that verify their allegiance to fossil fuels.&nbsp;</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">In the past year or so,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/challenge-investing-face-state-anti-esg-legislation-2022-08-24/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">similar legislation</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;has been introduced in at least 15 states and has already passed in four. On Aug. 24, Texas&nbsp;</span><a href="https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/media-center/news/20220824-texas-comptroller-glenn-hegar-announces-list-of-financial-companies-that-boycott-energy-companies-1661267815099" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">released</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;its first list of firms that allegedly “boycott energy companies,” including BlackRock, Credit Suisse, and UBS.</span></font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dubious Claims</font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">On Aug. 4, 19 GOP attorneys general sent a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/executive-management/BlackRock%20Letter.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">letter</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>&nbsp;to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink </b>accusing his firm of making ESG investments that “force the phase-out of fossil fuels, increase energy prices, drive inflation, and weaken the national security of the United States.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Claims like this are histrionic and often baseless.</b> For example, BlackRock has invested more than&nbsp;</span><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167550/desantis-anti-esg-movement" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$108 billion</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;in Texas-based energy companies, and this year it plans to support proportionally&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/literature/publication/commentary-bis-approach-shareholder-proposals.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">fewer ESG shareholder resolutions</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;than it did last year. And while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and his allies from other states claim that ESG investing hurts their pension funds, academic studies like a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4123366" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">recent one</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;undertaken by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago refute this. In fact, since Texas passed its anti-ESG law last year, the UPenn/Fed study indicates that it has already cost the state between $303 and $532 million, as Kate Aronoff&nbsp;</span><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167550/desantis-anti-esg-movement" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">points out</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;in&nbsp;</span><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">The New Republic</i><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Other evaluations of ESG investing are mixed, but when researchers from the New York University Stern Center for Sustainable Business and Rockefeller Asset Management analyzed over 1,000 relevant research papers from 2015–20, they found that a majority of the studies indicated ESG investing leads to either neutral or improved financial performance. The&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.stern.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/NYU-RAM_ESG-Paper_2021%20Rev_0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">meta-analysis</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;points out that “improved financial performance due to ESG becomes more marked over longer time horizons.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Despite these findings, Republican state AGs and other officials have accelerated their attacks on climate action—a central tenet of ESG investing—in the past few years.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">In August, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the trustees of the State Board of Administration voted to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ai-cio.com/news/desantis-and-allies-bar-florida-sba-from-esg-investing/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">ban its investment managers</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>&nbsp;from using ESG considerations in managing its portfolio of roughly $245 billion,</b> primarily from the Florida Retirement System Pension Plan. Florida’s AG Ashley Moody (R) joined the governor in supporting the move.&nbsp;</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">In May, Kentucky’s AG Daniel Cameron (R) issued an&nbsp;</span><a href="https://ag.ky.gov/Resources/Opinions/Opinions/OAG%2022-05.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">opinion</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;barring investment managers doing government business from employing ESG principles. On Sept. 1, Indiana’s AG Todd Rokita (R)&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.indianaenvironmentalreporter.org/posts/rokita-environmental-factors-in-public-retirement-funds-promote-leftist-agenda" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">did the same</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Meanwhile, right-wing entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is cashing in on the GOP’s anti-ESG and anti-woke craze, as CMD&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2022/08/01/financial-firm-cashes-in-on-the-anti-woke-crusade/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">recently reported</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">. His firm Strive Asset Management (DRLL) is trying to pull business away from the Big Three asset managers in red states. It recently announced that it has&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-24/anti-esg-firm-plans-new-etfs-after-first-fund-draws-250-million" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">raised $250 million</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;thanks to large investments from far-right tech mogul&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Peter_A.Thiel" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Peter Thiel</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;and his affiliated groups.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Not only are GOP AGs targeting asset managers that reduce fossil fuel investments, but they’re going after regulators and ratings agencies as well.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">In June, Paxton spearheaded a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/global/Texas%20Comment%20Letter%20re%20SEC%20Proposed%20Rules%20(Final%206.17.2022).pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">letter</a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>&nbsp;from a group of 12 Republican AGs to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) </b>opposing its proposed corporate disclosure requirements around sustainability. The rule would require firms to back up their claims of purportedly green or socially aware investments. Twenty-one GOP AGs sent another&nbsp;</span><a href="https://ago.wv.gov/Documents/2022.08.16%20ESG%20Funds%20Comment.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">letter</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;of opposition to the SEC on Aug. 16.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">“The woke left is going full throttle in their mission to change every facet of American life… and erode our democratic institutions to suit their liberal agenda,”&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/red-states-decry-woke-left-sec-proposal-for-esg-investing/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;West Virginia’s AG Patrick Morrisey (R).</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">In late July, Missouri’s AG Eric Schmitt (R)&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/exclusive-missouri-attorney-general-investigates-morningstar-over-esg-ratings-2022-08-03/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">launched an investigation</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;into whether Morningstar, a financial research and rating company, violated a state consumer-protection law by evaluating ESG issues. A few weeks later,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://ago.mo.gov/home/news/2022/08/17/18-state-ags-join-missouri-s-investigation-into-esg-ratings-company-morningstar-and-its-subsidiary-sustainalytics" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">18 other AGs</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;joined the probe. Schmitt and 16 other attorneys general are also trying to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.governing.com/next/missouri-and-other-ags-try-to-block-californias-ev-goals" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">block California from setting its own vehicle emissions standards</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">At the same time, the nonprofit&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Financial_Officers_Foundation" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">State Financial Officers Foundation</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;(SFOF) and its members are doing&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/climate/republican-treasurers-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">all they can</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;to prop up fossil fuel companies and punish firms that divest from oil, gas, and coal. In West Virginia, state Treasurer Riley Moore&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/business/west-virginia-fossil-fuel-banks.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">told</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;five financial companies—the banks Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo, as well as BlackRock—that they would no longer be eligible for state contracts because they have reduced financing for coal projects.</span></font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Code of Silence&nbsp;</font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Few of the nearly 30 companies CMD contacted responded to requests for comment.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">American Electric Power (AEP), a largely&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.aep.com/about/businesses/generation" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">fossil fuel-powered</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;electric utility, has publicly committed to a&nbsp;</span><a href="http://aepsustainability.com/decarbonization/strategy/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">decarbonization strategy</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;and made JUST Capital’s list of the top 100 ESG-focused companies in 2022. Despite planning to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the company doled out $50,400 to RAGA between 2021 and 2022.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A spokesperson did not directly answer CMD’s questions about why it contributes to a group supporting state attorneys general who have repeatedly fought efforts to mitigate climate change. Instead, the response was that AEP reviews its contributions to RAGA and the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) every year and “works with leaders from both political parties on issues that affect our ability to deliver reliable and affordable electricity to our customers…. We also talk regularly with our investors and other stakeholders about ESG issues,” the spokesperson explained, “as we work to manage business risks and opportunities and identify emerging trends or issues that could impact our ability to carry out our strategy.”</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, </b>which has given nearly $152,000 to RAGA since 2021, claims it is&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.pfizer.com/sites/default/files/investors/financial_reports/annual_reports/2021/esg/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">committed</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;to ESG principles, with the internal goal of becoming&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.pfizer.com/sites/default/files/investors/financial_reports/annual_reports/2021/files/Pfizer_ESG_Report.pdf#page=26" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">carbon-neutral</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;by 2030 and a public pledge to go&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.there100.org/re100-members?items_per_page=All" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">100% renewable</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;by then, too.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Our engagement with RAGA has focused mainly on advancing healthcare policies related to patient safety and efforts to combat counterfeit medicines,” a Pfizer spokesperson told CMD.&nbsp;</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Pfizer’s political giving is led by two guiding principles: preserve and further the incentives for innovation, and protect and expand access to medicines and vaccines for the patients we serve. Our contributions to RAGA are based on that criteria alone and are disbursed with the understanding that we are not going to agree with the group on every single issue.”</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Mastercard did not directly answer any of CMD’s questions, but a spokesperson said that the company no longer has a relationship with either RAGA or DAGA. It is, however, a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://sfof.com/donor-partners/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">gold-level sponsor</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;of SFOF.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citigroup and Eli Lilly declined to comment, and roughly two-dozen other companies did not respond to CMD’s email requests.</font></span></p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Companies</font></span></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">CMD identified the following companies that are both pursuing ESG principles&nbsp;</span><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">and</i></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;making donations to RAGA. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Many made the 2022&nbsp;</span></span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/11/the-just-100-list.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Just 100 List</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;compiled by JUST Capital and/or the Investment Business Daily (IBD) list of&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.investors.com/news/esg-companies-list-best-esg-stocks-environmental-social-governance-values/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">100 Best ESG Companies</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;in 2021. In addition, many signed on to RE100 and/or&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.theclimatepledge.com/us/en/Signatories" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background: 0px 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">The Climate Pledge</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;">, another initiative to get corporations to commit to net-zero emissions by 2040. Links to ESG information and recent donation amounts to RAGA are indicated below.</span></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.abbott.com/responsibility/sustainability.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Abbott Laboratories</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $25,000 donated to RAGA from 2021–present (JUST, IBD)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://www.aepsustainability.com/performance/report/docs/AEPs-Climate-Impact-Analysis-2021.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">American Electric Power Company, Inc.</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $50,400 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.ab-inbev.com/assets/pdfs/ABINBEV_ESG%202021_Final.pdf#page=22" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Anheuser-Busch InBev</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $210,265 (RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.elevancehealth.com/annual-report/2021/documents/Anthem_ESG_5-10-2022-Final.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Anthem</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">/Elevance Health: $100,000 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://investor.apple.com/esg/default.aspx" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Apple</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $1,000 (JUST, IBD, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://about.att.com/csr/home/reporting/issue-brief/climate-change.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">AT&T Services</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $250,000 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/making-an-impact/esg-reporting" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Bank of America Corporation</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $25,000 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://newsroom.cigna.com/our-committment-to-a-healthy-environment" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $92,500 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.citigroup.com/citi/sustainability/policies.htm" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Citigroup, Inc.</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $75,000 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://esg.lilly.com/environmental" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Eli Lilly and Company</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $50,000 (IBD, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/Sustainability/Sustainability-Report/Environment" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Exxon Mobil Corporation</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $125,000 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/fedex/us-united-states/sustainability/gcrs/FedEx_2022_ESG_Report.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">FedEx</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $10,000 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.intuit.com/company/corporate-responsibility/climate/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Intuit</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $50,400 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.jnj.com/about-jnj/policies-and-positions/climate-policy" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Johnson & Johnson</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $50,285 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/solutions/cib/investment-banking/center-for-carbon-transition" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">JPMorgan Chase & Co.</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;PAC: $25,000 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://corporate.lowes.com/sites/lowes-corp/files/CSR-reports/Lowes_2021_CSR_06.03.22.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Lowe’s</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $110,870 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/vision/our-impact/planet.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Mastercard</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $25,620 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.merck.com/company-overview/responsibility/esg-resources/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Merck & Co., Inc.</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $25,400 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.oracle.com/sustainability/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Oracle</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $25,000 (IBD)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.pepsico.com/our-impact/esg-topics-a-z/climate-change" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">PepsiCo</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $25,000 (JUST,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.theclimatepledge.com/content/amazonclimatepledge/us/en/Signatories/pepsico.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">The Climate Pledge</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.pfizer.com/sites/default/files/investors/financial_reports/annual_reports/2021/esg/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Pfizer</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $151,785 (RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.relx.com/corporate-responsibility/being-a-responsible-business/environment" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">RELX</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $30,200 (RE100,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.theclimatepledge.com/content/amazonclimatepledge/us/en/Signatories/RELX.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">The Climate Pledge</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/sustainability" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">T-Mobile USA</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $100,000 (RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.uber.com/us/en/community/esg/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Uber Technologies Inc.</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $50,000 (JUST,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.theclimatepledge.com/content/amazonclimatepledge/us/en/Signatories/uber.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">The Climate Pledge</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://about.ups.com/us/en/social-impact/environment/sustainable-services/esg-action-plan-.html" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">UPS</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $30,350 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://vistracorp.com/sustainability/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Vistra Corp.</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $50,000 (JUST)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://sustainability.wm.com/climate-change/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Waste Management</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $30,000 (IBD)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate-responsibility/environment/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Wells Fargo</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $25,285 (JUST, RE100)</span></font></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.yum.com/wps/portal/yumbrands/Yumbrands/citizenship-and-sustainability/planet/climate-action" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Yum! Brands</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">: $15,000 (IBD)</span></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">CMD’s investigation follows a similar&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.politicalaccountability.net/hollow-policies-when-corporations-political-spending-and-emissions-goals-policies-conflict/" data-wpel-link="external" target="blank" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">report</a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">&nbsp;by the Center for Political Accountability that analyzed companies’ political spending from 2016–20.</span></font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">june 2022</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.vox.com/23058987/sec-climate-finance-disclosure">https://www.vox.com/23058987/sec-climate-finance-disclosure</a></font></p><p id="OazPzk" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>as drought spreads and sea levels rise, the economic impacts of climate change will run in the trillions of dollars. The insurance firm Swiss Re projects climate disasters would cost the world as much as $23 trillion by 2050, bigger than the impact from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-swiss-re-idUKKBN27R1EU" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent;">the pandemic</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/a-guide-to-the-financial-crisis--10-years-later/2018/09/10/114b76ba-af10-11e8-a20b-5f4f84429666_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent;">Great Recession of 2009</a>&nbsp;combined.</b></font></p><p id="ENSxbJ" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It’s reasonable business planning to account for all this foreseeable risk<span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</span>—<span style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">&nbsp;</span>just like planning for cyberattacks or business disruptions from a pandemic. Last year, for instance, the US had to spend&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/us-climate-related-disasters-cost-145-billion-in-2021-and-more-ahead-scientists-say#:_{:text=The%20U.S.%20National%20Oceanic%20and,disasters%20reached%20%24145%20billion%20in}" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent;">$145 billion</a>&nbsp;dealing with floods, fires, and other climate-related disasters.</b></font></p><p id="ogPm5x" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yet somehow, climate change has fallen through the cracks of US financial regulation. Publicly traded companies are required to disclose information about “material” risks that affect their company regardless of their cause, from sanctions to supply chain chaos. But there are no uniform standards for disclosing how much fossil fuel pollution they generate or the impact that climate change could have on their future growth. Instead, companies have been left free to&nbsp;<a href="https://observer.com/2022/05/tesla-removed-from-sp500-esg-index/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">inflate their environmental progress</a>, all with little scrutiny from the public.</font></p><p id="gVktIc" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This kind of information is, in theory, essential to a functioning free market, so investors can make decisions based on complete information. But fossil fuel interests, conservative ideologues, and corporate trade groups are striving to keep shareholders in the dark on climate risks.</font></p><p id="Jkry0q" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The Biden administration is trying to make companies more publicly accountable for the&nbsp;<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0426" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">risk</a>&nbsp;of the climate crisis. A linchpin of Biden’s plan is a draft rule the<b> Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) </b>proposed in March. Over 500 pages, the SEC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/04/11/2022-06342/the-enhancement-and-standardization-of-climate-related-disclosures-for-investors#citation-57-p21340" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">rule</a>&nbsp;proposes that publicly traded companies disclose how climate change affects their business outlook and identify a board member or board committee to focus on climate-related risks.</font></p><p id="ptlN3c" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Once the rule is finalized, companies will have to disclose how their operations are affected by extreme weather events and the impact of climate change on the short- and medium-term business outlook. They’ll also have to report the emissions both from their company’s operations and from how their products are used. This is particularly bad news for fossil fuel companies with business models predicated on selling pollution. Until this rule, they haven’t had to fully account for the environmental impact from things like selling gas that’s burned by consumers’ cars.</font></p><p id="l1Rp1S" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This is a rule, in other words, that helps the free market act like the free market, giving investors exactly the information they need to make the decisions,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” Emory University business law expert George Georgiev said.</span></font></p><p id="WoLutN" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As the draft rule’s comment period came to a close, it’s clear any regulation on climate change faces serious headwinds. The loudest protests have come from right-wing groups and corporate-aligned nonprofits that have flooded the public comments with previews of the argument they’ll take to courts.</b></font></p><p id="hSGN3o" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Plenty of businesses in the financial sector stand to benefit from this rule, like the investing giant BlackRock, which has pledged to align its assets with climate goals</b>. But some could be hurt. The companies that benefit from greenwashing their climate commitments are doing everything they can to protect the chaotic status quo.</font></p><h3 id="246Yyx" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 0.6rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Financial transparency on climate change is hardly a radical idea</font></h3><p id="gMfjvS" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The SEC has required and standardized public company disclosures since 1933. In recent decades, the SEC has issued nonbinding guidance on how publicly traded companies should consider&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/corpfin/covid-19-disclosure-considerations" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">Covid-19 disruptions</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/corpfin/sample-letter-companies-pertaining-to-ukraine" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">Russia’s invasion of Ukraine</a>, and even a feared&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/rules/interp/33-7609.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">“Y2K” meltdown</a>&nbsp;at the turn of the 21st century, so the companies would meet their fiduciary duty.</font></p><p id="EAYqJ4" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the SEC has been painfully slow on climate change. Right now, businesses disclose the risks and costs of their business on the climate on a voluntary, patchy basis with no clear standardization.</font></p><p id="oN1btP" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A 2020 Government Accountability Office surveyed 32 midsize and large publicly traded companies and found little&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-530.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">consistency</a>. Airlines, for example, used years anywhere between 1990 and 2017 as the baseline for calculating their climate footprint. Water companies have used completely different measurements for reporting water extraction. Some companies would just report carbon emissions, while others would report total greenhouse gas emissions (including sources like methane).</font></p><p id="GAnER6" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposed SEC rule cites other evidence of companies not paying attention to this risk, like an internal survey of climate-related keywords in companies’ 10-Ks between June 2019 and December 2020. They found only 31 percent mentioned climate change at all.</font></p><p id="dBevol" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This information is not just to benefit climate change efforts; it is also useful to investors.</b>&nbsp;It makes clearer, for instance, that a retail company’s warehouses might be threatened by increased flooding, that an airline company might have to ground more flights because of rising heat waves, or that a bank’s backing of major fossil fuel expansion has the strong chance of backfiring in a world that transitions to renewables. Without any regulation and standardization, companies will just continue to try to outshine one another on their environmental and social commitments without hard data to back it. This mismatch will become an existential risk to financial instability if, for example, extreme weather pummels a business that did not prepare accordingly.</font></p><p id="4ZMm89" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Environmental activists have pushed for more from companies by proposing shareholder resolutions at annual meetings that ask for more transparency, but have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/23046282/banks-climate-shareholder-votes-fossil-fuels" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">met with mixed success</a>&nbsp;in shareholder votes that don’t bind the company to taking action.</font></p><p id="f7lW5r" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In this regulatory vacuum, voluntary global affiliations have cropped up, including the Net Zero Assets Managers Initiative, representing some $43 trillion in assets, and Climate Action 100+, representing more than $60 trillion. Another of these groups is run out of the Financial Stability Board as a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), a voluntary system that has grown to more than 3,000 companies</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The task force’s recommendations tell companies to consider the short-, medium-, and long-term climate impacts, emissions that result from investment decisions, and their operations’ pollution, and account for the changing climate’s consequences for the business. The&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/supporters/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">hundreds of companies</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;that voluntarily comply with these standards aren’t necessarily green or good for the environment, but it’s an extra gold star for their sustainability transparency.</span></font></p><div data-concert-ads-name="desktop_article_medrec_dynamic" class="m-ad m-addynamic_ad_unit m-addesktop_article_medrec_dynamic dfp_ad-wrapper--is-filled" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: 0; margin: 16px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-align: center; float: right; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="div-gpt-ad-desktop_article_medrec_dynamic" class="dynamic-js-slot dfp_ad--held-area dfp_ad--rendered dfp_ad--is-filled .dfp_ad--held-area" data-google-query-id="CJC1g_q07PkCFUcLTwgdeoMGfg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 1px 0px; padding: 0px; transition: height 0.2s ease-in 0s, background-color 0.15s ease 0s; background-color: rgba(250, 250, 250, 0.1); border: none; display: inline-block; overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: auto; min-width: 300px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></div></div><p id="12RkJe" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Eight countries, including the UK, have passed laws that will mirror the TFCD’s recommendations, but the US would remain an outlier without the SEC rule.</b>&nbsp;“Investors put their money where they think there’s a good opportunity and good information,” said Steven Rothstein, managing director of the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. “If we don’t have good information, we run the risk of falling behind internationally.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p id="naChdI" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The SEC’s rule is basically the US playing catch-up, based on standards the mainstream corporate community aligned with TFCD have already backed.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p id="8m6kTo" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Initially, companies will have to spend extra to comply with the rule — up to $530,000 a year for larger companies by the SEC’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-government-and-politics-environment-07b736081cf7cd8e46bb40e9834e717e" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">estimate</a>, but it will vary depending on how much companies are doing already on climate disclosure.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Typically, the costs of rules shrink over time. Otherwise, the rule itself is quite modest. The SEC is “not saying you should or shouldn’t invest in climate products,” Rothstein said. “They’re just saying, tell investors what you’re doing and do it in a consistent way.”</span></font></font></font></p><p id="fRXPnH" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Environmentalists and some Democratic lawmakers argue the SEC could be doing even more. The SEC does not change how companies disclose climate-related activities like PR campaigns and political influence, the kind of activities that tend to be outsourced to nonprofits that shield their activities from the public. In March,&nbsp;<b>Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI</b>)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-long-awaited-draft-sec-climate-rule-does-not-go-far-enough-in-requiring-disclosure-of-material-information" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">called</a>&nbsp;it a “failure of nerve that shies away from a perfectly legal, necessary response to the climate danger we face” because political efforts remain “the single most material disclosures a company could make to achieve climate safety.”</font></font></font></p><h3 id="AFncqR" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 0.6rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing groups claim financial transparency is an attack on free speech</font></font></h3><p id="dhnVkR" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Unsurprisingly, the SEC is facing immense pressure to withdraw this rule because of the same shadowy political spending that companies don’t have to disclose in the first place. Groups like the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Americans for Prosperity, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute have flooded the SEC with comments that argue company free speech would be violated.</font></font></font></p><p id="CBAgmD" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Trade groups and right-wing think tanks have argued that requiring companies to report these emissions is akin to violating their First Amendment rights of free speech,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;pointing to a court case that ruled a regulation requiring the disclosure of conflict-zone minerals would amount to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/national-assn-of-manufacturers-v-securities-and-exchange-commission/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">compelled speech”</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">&nbsp;and violated the companies’ rights.</span></font></font></font></p><p id="mNPfGr" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>The American Petroleum Institute</b>, the oil industry lobby, has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20892344-comments-to-sec-on-esg-rule#document/p33/a2075289" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">argued</a>&nbsp;the rule “could raise serious First Amendment issues under recent applying strict scrutiny to content-based laws compelling speech.”</font></font></font></p><p id="3xpZkg" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The argument has found purchase with conservative lawmakers, like&nbsp;<b>West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey,&nbsp;</b>who picked up the argument in his 2021&nbsp;<a href="https://www.investmentnews.com/w-va-attorney-general-threatens-to-sue-sec-over-enhanced-esg-disclosures-204490" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">letter</a>&nbsp;to Treasury last year. In Congress, 19 Republican senators argued in their&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-10-22/s71022-20122544-278541.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">submitted comments</a>&nbsp;that the rule is “not within the SEC’s mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.” Another&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-10-22/s71022-20123081-279409.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">40 Republican</a>&nbsp;representatives wrote that the rule will act to “undermine and shame public companies,” while Republican attorneys general describes the rule as a “total reordering of [the SEC’s] present disclosure regime.”</font></font></font></p><p id="lDiyDi" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The attack on regulation under the guise of First Amendment rights has become more familiar in recent years. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has been steadily giving corporations more and more leeway, more and more rights,” said Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a corporate law expert who has published several books on corporate speech.</font></font></font></p><p id="bGz38x" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The court also opened the door to more of these lawsuits,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/us/supreme-court-donor-privacy.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">striking down</a>&nbsp;a California law that required nonprofits to disclose their donors, siding with the Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s argument against disclosing their donors and providing IRS 990 forms to the state. Other legal challenges to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/07/charles-koch-elections-billions-money-cash" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">campaign finance laws</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/koch-anti-union-janus-supreme-court" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s ease 0s, background-color 0.1s ease 0s, fill 0.1s ease 0s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600;">unions</a>&nbsp;have used the First Amendment.</font></font></font></p><p id="8ByI9f" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Legal experts supportive of the SEC rule consider the argument a long shot in courts. “I think that argument is really far-fetched,” Emory’s Georgiev said.</font></font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But it’s still worrisome. If it succeeds, whether in courts or as a scare tactic to get the SEC to backtrack, it sets a dangerous precedent for the financial system at large. “If this climate rule is violating the First Amendment, it’s been all nine decades [the SEC has been] violating the First Amendment,” Georgiev said. “They will definitely try it out in courts. At the end of the day, a lot of far-fetched arguments succeed in courts.”</font></font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</font></font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">----</font></font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20892344-comments-to-sec-on-esg-rule#document/p33/a2075289">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20892344-comments-to-sec-on-esg-rule#document/p33/a2075289</a></font></font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">comments from&nbsp;</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">acc chem, AEI, AFP, API, cato, cei heartland etc CTT, CoC, co2 coalition, conoco phillips, enbridge, inst for free speech, heritage, nam, NMA, noia, lifepoerwed TPPF, WEA western energy? US oil and gas</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Comments to SEC on ESG rule</b></font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;supports principles based framework p. 1</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Any reporting framework adopted by the&nbsp; rr Commission should be conductive to flexible and diverse climate change disclosures that reflect the different factors driving a company's business. p. 2</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;railroad industry has already taken steps to voluntarily comply with... SASB and TCFD... Adopting an existing, widely used program would lessen transition time. p. 2</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;not impose strict liability. furnish separately instead of file p. 2</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Supports "furnishing" approach p. 5</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;We believe a business-specific "materiality standard that acknowledges differences across and within industries... p. 5</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;ACC&nbsp;</b>involved in development of SASB standards, ACC member companies are using for voluntary disclosure p. 5</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;private market standard-setters often develop climate change disclosures with an implicit bias based on their perception of an industry's reputation p. 5</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;The liability standard imposed on information filed with the SEC is an inappropriate standard for such forward-looking and aspirational disclosures p. 6</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;ESG</span>&nbsp;reporting "futile" p. 8</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;If public companies are driven to use the same (or similar) sets of assumptions about central parameters, a very real danger would arise of more-or-less homogenous predictions inconsistent with historical, ongoing, and prospective climate phenomena." p. 9</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...and there is no evidence in support of the ubiquitous assertions of a climate "crisis," whether ongoing or looming, and no evidence in support of the even more extreme "existential threat" argument. p. 10</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Again, public companies conducting climate "risk" analysis will have powerful incentives to choose among assumptions on future emissions and atmospheric concentrations, climate sensitivity, and other crucial parameters so as to insulate themselves from political attack, adverse regulatory actions, and litigation p. 14</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Again, public companies conducting climate "risk" analysis will have powerful incentives to choose among assumptions on future emissions and atmospheric concentrations, climate sensitivity, and other crucial parameters so as to insulate themselves from political attack, adverse regulatory actions, and litigation p. 14</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Those political pressures will lead public companies and government agencies not to consider the benefits of increasing atmospheric concentrations of GHG p. 14</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...it is not easy to separate natural from anthropogenic effects on temperatures and other climate phenomena. p. 15</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Accordingly, the data are unclear as to whether there is occurring an acceleration in sea level rise p. 16</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;The reality is that a "climate risk" disclosure requirement would be deeply speculative. p. 18</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;What about massive volcanic eruptions? Asteroid impacts? Powerful earthquakes? p. 19</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;Constitutional objection to ESG reporting</b>&nbsp;p. 22</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;SEC Climate Disclosure Mandates Risk Compelling Speech at Odds with the First Amendment p. 23</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...expressing views they may not hold or would prefer to express in different ways. p. 23</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...could imply that the speaker had adopted a position on the topic of climate change... p. 24</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Commissioner Hester Peirce identified some of the risk of compelled speech in this context during June 2019 remarks before the&nbsp;<b>American Enterprise Institute</b>, including public shaming and shunning based on nebulous, incomplete, arbitrary, inconsistent, and political information which would be incorporated as part of an SEC climate or ESG disclosure regime. p. 25</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;explain in a forthcoming article p. 25</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...the evidence of ESG-certified investments -- whether by governments or third parties -- achieving financial or environmental objectives is likely overblown. p. 26</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;As Commissioner Peirce has articulated, the use of global, one-size-fits-all ESG and climate disclosure regimes may undermine the bottom-up, non-government innovations that respond to those investor and consumer interests p. 27</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...represents a sweeping expansion of government power and mission creep for many parts of the federal government. p. 27</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;API&nbsp;</b>seeks to serve as a resource and an active participant p. 29</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;API developing framework based on EEI/AGA template p. 30</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;<b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">disclosure requirements beyond materiality "could raise serious First Amendment issues"</b>&nbsp;p. 33</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Central Hudson Doctrine</span>&nbsp;p. 34</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"industry issuers may be best positioned to define the standard for require climate disclosures" p. 34</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;API encourages SEC to view industry resources as key starting points for evaluating need to develop new reporting requirements p. 37</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;constitutional limitations on SEC's ability to require companies p. 38</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;look forward to working with SEC "through the rulemaking process" p. 40</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;ESG reporting "important" and AXPC is committed to "progress" p. 42</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;AXPC&nbsp;</b>metric framework and template p. 43</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;materiality is key p. 43</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;'neutrality'; any disclosures should not "discriminate against any economic sector or sectors" p. 44</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;urging adherence to procedural requirements/allowing additional input from industry p. 45</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;AXPC urges SEC not to include scope 3 emissions in reporting requirements p. 47</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;does not believe SEC should require auditing/believes companies should be able to rely on third party auditors p. 50</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;would urge Commission to not require certification of climate disclosures p. 51</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"strong supports a 'comply or explain' framework" p. 51</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;unclear mandatory disclosure can provide a net benefit p. 53</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;the SEC is not tasked with environmental regulation p. 53</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...also raises questions about the SEC's ability to evaluate prescriptive disclosure frameworks and fairly enforce compliance with them. p. 53</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;90% of the companies in the S&P 500 were publishing a sustainability report. p. 54</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;the SEC would be stepping in to pick "winners" and "losers" p. 55</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Evolving understandings of climate change p. 56</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Corporate environmental sustainability disclosures--and ESG disclosures more generally--have come to fruition as a result of exogenous demand for such information, and an industry has grown up around the provision of such information. p. 57</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;The SEC should not extend any climate change-related disclosures requirements to private companies. p. 59</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"name and shame" -type of strategy p. 59</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...the losses they may incur as climate policies devalue and strand their assets and courts compel them to pay compensation to climate change victims. p. 61</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;In practice, however, it is often hard to distinguish what component of current risks is due to climate change rather than just plain old climate. p. 62</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Advocates for climate risk disclosure: p. 64</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;If the state of the world is improving, including in regard to cilmate-related risks, why now compel publicly-traded companies to quantify climate-related risks as though their financial lives depend on it? p. 72</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Third, CO2 emissions have positive as well as negative externalities. p. 74</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;adaptation requires wealth, and mitigation targets that strand 42.1 percent fossil fuel industry assets by 2030 would destroy trillions of dollars of wealth. p. 77</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;The NetZero agenda is the political equivalent of war on the fossil fuel industry. p. 77</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Death spiral p. 78</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Disclosure advocates warn of a carbon bubble but the Paris treaty and NetZero agendas may be setting the stage for a green bubble.</span>&nbsp;p. 85</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Solyndra! p. 85</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;ESG exceeds powers of SEC&nbsp;</b>p. 93</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;...mission creep for the agency... p. 93</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Accounting firms, consultants, and law firms with compliance practices can be expected to welcome more disclosure requirements for self-interested professional reasons. p. 97</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;the Scientification of Non-Knowledge p. 100</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;...some climate and ESG-themed disclosure mandates could become compelled speech that<b>&nbsp;conflicts with First Amendment protections</b>. p. 100</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;At least some proposed climate disclosure provisions, by which companies must confess to having metaphorical blood on their hands with regard to future catastrophic effects of climate change, would face similar First Amendment concerns.</span>" p. 101</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Should a U.S. firm end a contract with a textile factory in Bangladesh over the average age of its workers or will that simply cause those teenage employees and their families to fall even further into poverty when their factory closes? Isn't poverty alleviation itself a major ESG goal? p. 104</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;The agency should continue to defer to the materiality threshold to help continue to prevent securities from becoming politicized p. 107</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;companies are already required to disclose material ESG information under current law p. 108</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;advocating a flexible, principles-based approach with tailoring for different industries and companies p. 110</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;it is critical to avoid finding "fraud by hindsight</b>" p. 110</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Third-party standard setters may not be insulated enough from stakeholder and other policy agendas... important questions to answer about organizational governance, due process, and funding sources. p. 111</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;SEC should take a closer look at transparency and conflicts of interest [in third party ESG assessments] p. 112</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;SEC should allow a commensurate market-based approach to third-party assurance for climate-related reporting p. 113</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Disclosure... should not be a tool for advancing political interests or achieving policy goals p. 113</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;Chevron</b>&nbsp;has a "long history" of reporting on ESG p. 115</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;supports disclosure for "consistency and comparability of climate-related information" with existing frameworks and a phased approach p. 115</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;support for reporting times to line up with other agencies p. 116</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Chevron working with API to develop 'voluntary template' p. 116</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"Chevron's climate change reporting experience" p. 117</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;urging a "phased" approach p. 118</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;advocating for a principle-based approach rooted in 'materiality' p. 118</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;SEC should focus on "decision-useful information" p. 118</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;SEC should build on existing sustainability-related disclosure requirements p. 118</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;support for global sustainability standard; encouraging SEC to use TCFD framework/voluntary standards/private sector industry standards p. 119</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Chevron offers assistance as the SEC "moves forward with Climate disclosure" p. 119</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;"There is no climate crisis"</b>&nbsp;p. 120</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"We have long recognized the need for action to address climate change" and "understand investor interest" in ESG p. 122</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;recommend SEC adopt existing reporting frameworks (TCDF, SASB) p. 122</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;standards-setting organizations and industry can successfully/should work together p. 123</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;phased approach / based in materiality / "harmonize" disclosure requirements with other sustainability reporting requirements p. 123</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;urging a "hybrid-approach" to disclosure: company specific while "minimizing categorical discrimination among industries" p. 123</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;data should be presented in way that is useful for investors p. 124</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"materiality" for climate disclosures: "reasonable investor would consider it important in deciding how to vote" p. 124</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;should apply liability protections / ESG disclosures should be "furnished" not "filed" p. 125</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Our members are leading the transition to the lower-carbon energy economy p. 127</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;brags about "recognizing the importance of climate change disclosure" p. 127</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"we support the Commission's focus" p. 128</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;ESG requirement should be collab between registrants and investors, flexible, sector-specific p. 128</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;best to work with investors to disclose relevant information p. 129</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"climate change data and disclosure are inherently uncertain" - companies should not be liable p. 130</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"forward-looking societal climate impacts or other externalities" are not useful to investors/decision-making p. 131</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"forward-looking societal climate impacts or other externalities" are not useful to investors/decision-making p. 131</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;should not be a one-size fits all approach p. 132</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"caution against delegating the development of public-company disclosure requirements to NGOs or private companies" p. 134</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"we recommend the Commission prioritize standards applicable to registrants subject to its rules" p. 139</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;advocating for own<b>&nbsp;EEI-AGA</b>&nbsp;ESG/Sustainability Reporting Template p. 140</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;do not believe additional certifications or reviews are necessary p. 140</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;need to be careful that disclosures do not lead to additional litigation p. 141</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"existing requirement to disclose material risk factors" re climate is sufficient p. 142</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"our perspective is drawn from our long and sustained history of voluntary disclosure" related to ESG p. 148</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;ESG must remain rooted in SEC's mission "to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation" p. 149</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;SEC must remember "purpose of reporting": investors and materiality at forefront p. 149</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;need to allow degree of flexibility/customization p. 149</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"harmonized and uniform global framework for climate change disclosure... seems unrealistic" p. 149</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;advocating for adoption of existing frameworks p. 149</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;disclosures "should be subject to a safe harbor or limitation on liability" p. 150</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"phased approach" needed p. 150</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"no statutory authority" for ESG disclosure p. 151</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"compelling ESG information from companies... is the type of humanitarian and social benefit regulation that has been struck down as unconstitutional under the First Amendment" p. 151</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;SEC climate regulation "cannot overcome even Central Hudson intermediate scrutiny"&nbsp;</span>p. 152</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;ESG regulation will have negative consequences p. 154</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;Climate Science "Highly Uncertain"&nbsp;</span>p. 160</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;calls for policing of fund management firms for ESG fraud p. 162</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;arguing ESG is essentially a tax on workers p. 177</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;arguing ESG is essentially a tax on workers p. 177</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"allow for flexible disclosure" but in support of "principle based framework" p. 184</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Any rule is premature p. 201</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;supports "new regulatory framework" p. 213</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;supports "a systemic approach to addressing the climate challenge" p. 216</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>&nbsp;TPPF comment through "Life:Powered</b>" p. 217</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;"Risks to Human Welfare from Climate Are Decreasing, Not Increasing"</span>&nbsp;p. 218</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;Additional disclosure requirements will result in First Amendment violations&nbsp;</span>p. 220</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;<b>Example of conflict minerals disclosure.&nbsp;</b>p. 220</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;WEA and USOGA Comment p. 222</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;"uncertainties" on "extent of anthropogenic contributions and the amount of warming " p. 223</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;WEA uses paper that critiques decades long campaign to promote misinformation on climate by oil and gas p. 226</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;Preference for SASB on governance issues p. 229</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;WEA questions SEC's sincerity p. 231</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Original Document (PDF) »</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Contributed by Jesse Coleman (Documented)</font></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></p><p id="CZ0PZQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see Document</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></font></font></font></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.investmentnews.com/w-va-attorney-general-threatens-to-sue-sec-over-enhanced-esg-disclosures-204490">https://www.investmentnews.com/w-va-attorney-general-threatens-to-sue-sec-over-enhanced-esg-disclosures-204490</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>State attorney general threatens to sue SEC over ESG disclosures</b></div><div>attorney general</div><div>State and federal GOP officials continue to push back against what they call regulatory overreach. The SEC says it is trying to meet investor demand for ESG information.</div><div>March 26, 2021</div><div>By Mark Schoeff Jr.</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has threatened to sue the Securities and Exchange Commission if it doesn’t back off its effort to expand environmental, social and governance disclosures.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Morrisey said that mandating ESG disclosures from companies that are not related to their financial performance would represent regulatory overreach and would be unconstitutional because it would not “withstand strict scrutiny” under free speech rights.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a letter Thursday to SEC Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee, Morrisey criticized a recent speech in which Lee said the SEC is considering expanding climate risk and ESG disclosures to meet investor demand.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>“There is a significant constitutional obstacle to the unprecedented and dangerous course you charted in your remarks,” Morrisey wrote. “If the Commission proceeds down this pathway, states and other interested stakeholders will not hesitate to go to court to oppose a federal regulation compelling speech in violation of the First Amendment.”</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Disclosures related to ESG issues such as diversity and corporate political spending are outside the SEC’s regulatory purview, the state’s attorney general asserted, and would only serve to provide ammunition for some customers and investors to target companies on those issues.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>The SEC should concentrate on disclosures that affect financial performance rather than “statements on issues that drive a political agenda,</b>” wrote Morrisey, a Republican.&nbsp; “Your proposal would in fact create a system with an unlimited number of additional mandatory statements.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">This is federal overreach and political activism at its worst.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>The SEC recently released a request for public comment on strengthening climate-risk disclosures, something Lee argued would meet a market demand.</b></div><div>
</div><div>“Of course, we already have an extensive public record demonstrating investor desire for the SEC to ensure better disclosure in this space,” Lee said during an online appearance at a March 15 event hosted by the Center for American Progress. “But, it’s time to move from the question of ‘if’ to the more difficult question of ‘how’ we obtain disclosure on climate.”</div><div>
</div><div><b>Over the last few weeks, the SEC has launched several ESG initiatives, including establishing an enforcement task force on climate and ESG issues.</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa. and the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, expressed concern that the task force would give the SEC a way to implement new ESG policies without going through a rulemaking process.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“It is imperative that the SEC provide fair notice, and fully comply with the Administrative Procedure Act if it is going to impose new requirements,” Toomey wrote in a March 24 letter to Lee. “The SEC also should not use enforcement actions as a backdoor for imposing new regulations on ESG and climate change issues.”</div><div>
</div><div>An SEC spokesperson declined to comment on Morrisey’s or Toomey’s letters.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Toomey’s worries reflected similar qualms by Republican SEC members Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman about the agency’s recent ESG focus, which has been carried out by Lee, a Democratic SEC member.</b></div><div>
</div><div>That intensity around the issue is likely to continue under<b>&nbsp;Gary Gensler, the Biden administration’s nominee for SEC chair, who is awaiting Senate confirmation.</b>&nbsp;He voiced support for enhanced ESG disclosures at his confirmation hearing earlier this month.</div><div>
</div><div>Related Topics: Disclosures, Securities and Exchange Commission, Sustainable Investing</div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-10-22/s71022-20123081-279409.pdf">https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-10-22/s71022-20123081-279409.pdf</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>april 11 2022</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Vanessa A. Countryman</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Secretary</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Securities and Exchange Commission</span></div><div>100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549-1090</div><div>RE: File No. S7-10-22</div><div>
</div><div>Dear Ms. Countryman:</div><div>We, the undersigned Members of Congress, have significant concerns with the Securities and</div><div>Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed rule on “The Enhancement and Standardization of</div><div>Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” This proposal would require publicly traded</div><div>companies to disclose their climate-related risks, report greenhouse gas emissions, and report</div><div>possible financial effects of climate change. We urge you to immediately table this rule.</div><div>Not only would this proposal add additional red tape and bureaucracy that would be extremely</div><div>burdensome, if not impossible, for many public companies to fully comply with, but it would</div><div>also far exceed the authority that Congress explicitly granted the SEC. The SEC cannot and</div><div>should not mandate such public disclosures of information that strays from the “core purpose of</div><div>disclosure, [which] is to provide investors with the information they need to make informed</div><div>investment and voting decisions,” which “allow[s] our capital markets to flourish.”1</div><div>
</div><div><b>&nbsp;It is&nbsp;</b><b>apparent that, as we have recently seen, this information would only be used to smear these</b></div><div><b>companies. [demonize FF ceo //?]</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>This proposal would drastically disrupt the current disclosure regime. Current SEC disclosure</div><div>mandates are intended to provide investors with insightful material information into a company’s</div><div>performance. SEC Commissioner Peirce emphasized that this proposal, instead, would tell</div><div>“corporate managers how regulators, doing the bidding of an array of non-investor stakeholders,</div><div>expect them to run their companies.”2</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;This would force everyday investors to view companies</div><div>through a tinted lens, obscured by the demands of vocal stakeholders “for whom a company’s</div><div>climate reputation is of equal or greater importance than a company’s financial performance.”3</div><div>
</div><div>Ultimately, the SEC’s actions would act to undermine and shame public companies, not to</div><div>provide investors with necessary financial disclosures.</div><div>
</div><div>furthermore, at a time of global turmoil, when energy prices are at decade highs, how would this</div><div>rule be beneficial to American citizens? Simply wrapping climate activism in financial regulation</div><div>will only further exacerbate our current energy crisis and do nothing to help everyday Americans</div><div>heat or cool their homes or lower prices at the gas pump. Instead, we need to refocus our</div><div>attention on domestic energy production and wean ourselves off energy from hostile nations.</div><div>Additional “climate” regulations will only hinder our ability to achieve this goal. Given the</div><div>current global and domestic circumstances, the administration should be focused on making the</div><div>basic necessities of life less expensive, not more.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The SEC has proposed disclosures that are outside of its historical purview in order to engage in</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">environmental policy. It is, however, the role of Congress – and, importantly, not the role of</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">financial regulators – to set climate-related policy, balancing interests and engaging with</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">stakeholders to appropriately move us to a more energy-efficient nation. This Administration</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">must end its assault on American businesses and the rule of law in the name of an immediate and</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">expensive transition to a “Green New Deal” agenda.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div>Sincerely,</div><div><b>Ted Budd</b></div><div><b>Member of Congress</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>Ralph Norman</div><div>
</div><div>Dan Bishop</div><div>
</div><div>Bill Posey</div><div>
</div><div>Scott Perry</div><div>
</div><div>William R. Timmons IV</div><div>
</div><div>Stephanie Bice</div><div>
</div><div>Richard Hudson</div><div>
</div><div>Alexander X. Mooney</div><div>
</div><div>Mo Brooks</div><div>
</div><div>Louie Gohmert</div><div>
</div><div>Bruce Westerman</div><div>
</div><div>Debbie Lesko</div><div>
</div><div>Byron Donalds</div><div>
</div><div>John Joyce</div><div>
</div><div>Tom McClintock</div><div>
</div><div>Michael C. Burgess, M.D.</div><div>
</div><div>John Rose</div><div>
</div><div>Andrew S. Clyde</div><div>
</div><div>C. Scott Franklin</div><div>Ben Cline</div><div>
</div><div>Jay Obernolte</div><div>
</div><div>Rodney Davis</div><div>
</div><div>Ashley Hinson</div><div>
</div><div>Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S.</div><div>
</div><div>David B. McKinley P.E.</div><div>
</div><div>Yvette Herrell</div><div>
</div><div>Andy Biggs</div><div>
</div><div>Tom Rice</div><div>
</div><div>Daniel Webster</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Guest</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Cloud</div><div>
</div><div>Lauren Boebert</div><div>
</div><div>Kat Cammack</div><div>
</div><div>Pat Fallon</div><div>
</div><div>W. Gregory Steube</div><div>
</div><div>Nancy Mace</div><div>
</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8 22</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/elon-musk/right-wing-influencers-leading-social-media-crusade-against-esg">https://www.mediamatters.org/elon-musk/right-wing-influencers-leading-social-media-crusade-against-esg</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Right-wing media figures are fueling outrage against ESG, an acronym for corporate standards and practices related to environment, social, and governance issues that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/climate/republicans-blackrock-climate.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Republican lawmakers</a>&nbsp;and the fossil fuel industry are seeking to turn into a new bogeyman. Conveniently vague, ESG is being&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-27/esg-haters-think-climate-investors-are-controlling-energy-markets" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">misleadingly cast</a>&nbsp;as a tool for “elites” to force a tyrannical agenda on unsuspecting Americans, specifically investors, as part of the far-right “Great Reset” conspiracy theory.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The anti-ESG movement is gaining momentum fast. In May, former Vice President Mike Pence, seemingly gearing up for a potential 2024 presidential run, attacked ESG&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Mike_Pence/status/1524160620425265153" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">in a speech</a>&nbsp;in Houston and in a<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/only-republicans-can-stop-the-esg-madness-woke-musk-consumer-demand-free-speech-corporate-america-11653574189" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">&nbsp;Wall Street Journal op-ed</a>. </b>Biotech founder and conservative influencer Vivek Ramaswamy launched an explicitly anti-ESG asset management firm called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/upstart-money-manager-gets-billionaires-to-back-the-anti-blackrock-11652134919" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Strive</a>&nbsp;that same month. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">More recently, right-wing media spearheaded an effort to blame upheaval in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/segment-riddled-lies-tucker-carlson-dismisses-climate-crisis-and-actions-address-it" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the Netherlands</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-blamed-climate-policy-sri-lankas-economic-collapse-deliberately-ignoring" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Sri Lanka</a>, and other countries on green policies supposedly forced into place because of ESG compliance, warning that if the “global elites” had their way, the United States would be next.&nbsp;</span></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This right-wing campaign is now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/09/29/what-is-wrong-with-esg-wokeism" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">targeting</a>&nbsp;corporations which are implementing ESG practices and the financial institutions which are encouraging them through investment.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">According to Reuters, 17 conservative-led states have pushed at least&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/wallstreet-esg-insight-idTRNIKBN2OH0O1" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">44 bills</a>&nbsp;or new laws punishing companies for taking a stance on ESG issues in 2022, compared to about a dozen of these types of actions in 2021</span>. Notably, an August 5 <b>New York Times&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/climate/republican-treasurers-climate-change.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">investigation</a>&nbsp;revealed that a dark money group with deep ties to the fossil fuel industry is working with state treasurers across the country to hinder climate action in the form of anti-ESG legislation, among other tactics.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>ESG is attracting more and more attention from right-wing media influencers like Elon Musk, Glenn Beck, and James Lindsay. They are part of a growing number of conservative media figures seizing the opportunity to turn ESG into the next battleground in the culture wars, in part by fitting it into the broader&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/12/08/great-reset-conspiracy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“Great Reset” conspiracy theory</a>&nbsp;on social media</b>. As it relates to climate change denial, the Great Reset posits that global elites are using the climate crisis as a pretext to impose economic control on the masses.</font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What is ESG?</font></font></font></h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 18, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Musk took to Twitter,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526958110023245829?lang=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">writing</a>, “ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by <b>phony social justice warriors</b>.” Tesla had just been <b>kicked off of the S&P 500’s ESG index</b>, potentially spelling trouble for the company’s stock value, and Musk was mad. It wasn’t the first time he had&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Aelonmusk%20ESG" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">touched</a>&nbsp;on the topic, but the media frenzy that followed had everyone asking one question: What is ESG?</span></font></font></font></p></div></div><div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img loading="lazy" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/styles/scale_w1024/s3/static/D8Image/2022/08/11/image_6483441-3.jpg?VersionId=dnadLSRKoW3uR0u6pF5dt_VH8NNcJzm8&itok=yeTQYhIB" width="1024" height="972" alt="Line graph showing a spike in " esg="ESG" searched="searched" on="on" google="Google" between="between" may="May" and="and" typeof="foaf:Image" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; width: 638.2px;" /></font></font><figcaption class="media-playercaption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.38;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From May 17-19, Google search interest in “ESG” skyrocketed by 233%, reaching peak popularity for a relatively esoteric acronym.&nbsp;</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ESG&nbsp;<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/environmental-social-and-governance-esg-criteria.asp" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">stands for</a>&nbsp;“environmental, social, and governance” criteria that companies can meet by developing initiatives and disclosures to appear responsive to environmental concerns, workers' rights, and other pressing social issues. Independent rating agencies evaluate how well they are managing risks and growth opportunities in these different areas and how that could have material impacts on their performance. For example, a company that provides detailed reporting on its greenhouse gas emissions from direct operations and across its supply chain and has a robust plan to achieve net-zero emissions may be more likely to receive a high&nbsp;<a href="https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/articles/understanding-the-e-in-esg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">‘E’ score.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Investors who want to prioritize financial returns but are seeking some level of corporate accountability are increasingly relying on ESG scores to make decisions. ESG investments are on track to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/esg-assets-may-hit-53-trillion-by-2025-a-third-of-global-aum/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">exceed $50 trillion</a>&nbsp;by 2025. The big three asset management firms – BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, which have sometimes used their shareholder power to support&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/business/exxon-mobil-engine-no1-activist.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ESG resolutions</a>&nbsp;– are the main villains in the right’s anti-ESG narrative. For example, at Exxon’s annual meeting in 2021, the three firms used their voting power to help activist investors install three directors on the company's board, with the goal of building out a more aggressive strategy to transition away from fossil fuels.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But that doesn’t mean corporate ESG will save the planet. To the contrary, climate advocates have called ESG a&nbsp;<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/163865/climate-change-investment-funds-scam-esg-wall-street" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">greenwashing scam</a>. Despite being in the S&P 500’s ESG Index, Exxon has&nbsp;<a href="https://qz.com/2119520/exxonmobil-plans-to-boost-spending-on-oil-drilling-45-percent-in-2022/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">increased its investment</a>&nbsp;in oil and gas drilling and does not have a&nbsp;<a href="https://carbontracker.org/exxonmobil-is-planning-on-climate-failure-despite-advancing-climate-solutions/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">climate plan&nbsp;</a>that meets the goals of the Paris agreement. But the fossil fuel industry and the lawmakers who receive lavish contributions from it aren’t concerned with legitimate criticisms of ESG.</font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why ESG matters to fossil fuel proponents</font></font></font></h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It is clear that despite short-term demand rising, fossil fuels are&nbsp;<a href="https://carbontracker.org/oil-price-surge-could-spark-climate-busting-investment-in-new-projects/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">not viable</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/05/climate-action-fossil-fuels-investment-losses-study/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">long-term investments</a>.</span> However, fossil fuel industry allies are clawing to keep their power and profits, discouraging any corporate commitment to climate by vilifying and even prohibiting adherence to ESG standards while advancing pro-oil and gas legislation at&nbsp;<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164641/conservatives-new-bogeyman-critical-energy-theory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the state</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr7896" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">federal levels</a>&nbsp;that prohibits investment and business decisions from considering the economic and environmental consequences of fossil fuels. What’s more, Republican legislators are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/republicans-plan-legislative-assault-on-woke-esg-firms/?utm_medium=email" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">vowing to continue</a>&nbsp;this trend if they&nbsp;<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/07/15/cotton-we-need-to-investigate-esg-climate-cartel-contributing-to-5-a-gallon-gas/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">take control</a>&nbsp;of the House in the November midterm election.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-media-and-climate-deniers-celebrate-supreme-court-ruling-limiting" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">decision</a>&nbsp;to hamstring the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency in June, ESG opponents are now calling for the court to place&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/why-the-supreme-courts-climate-ruling-matters-to-the-sec/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">similar limits</a>&nbsp;on the Securities and Exchange Commission and its ability to ask public companies for disclosures about their climate impacts.</font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing culture warriors, conspiracy theorists, and Fox News hosts are attacking ESG</font></font></font></h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The burgeoning conservative campaign against ESG isn’t just playing out in state legislatures or financial institutions. ESG panic may be approaching critical mass, with<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> high-profile climate skeptics like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-tethering-multiple-global-conflicts-green-new-deal-and-esg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Tucker Carlson</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3990826" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Marc Morano</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AlexEpstein/status/1545988213835149312?s=20&t=jxK1SNEHqQnMqUaTAc4Q6A" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Alex Epstein</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1545936747174825984?s=20&t=jxK1SNEHqQnMqUaTAc4Q6A" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Michael Shellenberger</a>&nbsp;realizing that the acronym is ripe for manipulation and fearmongering</span>.[vid]</font></font></font></p></div></div><div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-web-video paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="erd-list--editorial-embed field field--name-field-stories-web-video field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media-player media-player--video" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; width: 638.2px;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-video-file field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fieldlabel visually-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal; position: absolute !important; font-weight: bold;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video file</font></font></font></div><div class="fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mejsoffscreen" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); clip-path: inset(50%); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video Player</font></span></font></font></div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.38;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some key media figures in the right-wing campaign against ESG, such as radio host and<b> conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck and anti-critical theory activist James Lindsay, </b>jumped at the chance to amplify several attacks from Musk in an effort to move ESG into the mainstream discourse. &nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These anti-ESG evangelists aren’t just concerned with protecting oil and gas interests. Their grievances are often focused on the social and governance aspects as well, applying the same flawed arguments to specific examples to deride and toxify ESG as a whole.</font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Musk: “ESG is the devil incarnate”</font></font></font></h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Musk’s vendetta against ESG is&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526961753619369987" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">personal</a>, and it has been building at the same time his faltering deal to buy Twitter with the goal of stopping the&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1527356085090545664?s=20&t=Hn1SzHEAm4A3S5UZLmRXPQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“woke mind virus”</a>&nbsp;has transformed him into a reactionary martyr.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Musk first took to Twitter with his ESG grievances on&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1501194770261098497?s=20&t=DbM9i96hAetwmgLQYJ7tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">March 8</a>, claiming, “ESG rules have been twisted to insanity,” replying to a tweet from venture capitalist and Facebook board member Marc Andreessen.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Daily Wire’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-condemns-rising-woke-trend-in-corporate-america?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=benshapiro" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coverage</a>&nbsp;of the comment has garnered more Facebook interactions than any other U.S.-based right-wing article mentioning “ESG” since 2020. It was also shared by Daily Wire influencers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/100044171722408/posts/547225710093148" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Matt Walsh</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/100044546974605/posts/532255668269328" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Michael Knowles</a>.&nbsp;</font></font></font></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.desmog.com/prageru/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Dark money-funded</a>&nbsp;PragerU, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/video-from-prageru-makes-several-incorrect-and-misleading-claims-about-climate-change-richard-lindzen/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">denied</a>&nbsp;the established science of climate change in its videos, edited the thumbnail of an older&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/100064353922429/posts/359261356228992" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">anti-ESG video</a>&nbsp;to feature Musk and his tweet.&nbsp;</font></font></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1510485792296210434?s=20&t=sIy0b-byRloBe9HvvLmmkQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">April 3</a>, Musk tweeted, “I am increasingly convinced that corporate ESG is the Devil Incarnate,” cueing up another right-wing media pile-on</span>.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Several conspiracy theorists and far-right characters&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/glennbeck/status/1511021533292122113?s=20&t=sIy0b-byRloBe9HvvLmmkQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">chimed</a>&nbsp;in, with&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Liz_Wheeler/status/1510793058585096194?s=20&t=KZ4CthZ7ivta3tAMkgSV-g" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">some</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1510494342741467137?s=20&t=sIy0b-byRloBe9HvvLmmkQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">invoking</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-bidens-presidency-already-has-its-first-conspiracy-theory-the-great-reset" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“Great Reset”</a>&nbsp;conspiracy theory. Right-wing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theblaze.com/shows/the-glenn-beck-program/elon-musk-glenn-beck-esg?utm_content=buffera157a&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=fb-glennbeck" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">news</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://newsbusters.org/blogs/business/jeffrey-clark/2022/04/04/elon-musk-slams-corporate-woke-esg-standards-devil" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">coverage</a>&nbsp;did the same.</font></font></font></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/04/republican-lawmakers-congress-oil-ceo-fossil-fuels/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">has received</a>&nbsp;well over half a million dollars from the fossil fuel industry and has a large social media following,&nbsp;<a href="https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6302954872001#sp=show-clips" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">used</a>&nbsp;Musk’s statements to blame high gas prices on ESG instead of price gouging and dedicated an&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/lt/podcast/how-radical-environmentalism-hurts-the-environment/id1498149200?i=1000557372929" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">entire episode</a>&nbsp;of his podcast,&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hold These Truths</em>, to the supposed evils of ESG.</font></font></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526958110023245829?lang=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">May 18</a>, Musk wrote his infamous “social justice warriors” tweet, which has over 360,000 interactions.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fox News and Fox Business both ran a variety of segments on Musk’s tweet, calling&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3989535" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ESG a scam</a>, defending Musk as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3989580" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">victim of censorship</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3989537" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">interviewing</a>&nbsp;lawmakers pushing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/article-sen-sullivan-looks-to-curb-power-of-giant-investment-firms-embracing-esg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">anti-ESG legislation</a>.&nbsp;</font></font></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 26, Fox host Laura Ingraham dedicated an entire segment of&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3989579" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Ingraham Angle</a></span>&nbsp;to fearmongering about ESG, citing Musk at the outset.</font></font></font></p></div></div><div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-web-video paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="erd-list--editorial-embed field field--name-field-stories-web-video field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media-player media-player--video" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; width: 638.2px;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-video-file field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fieldlabel visually-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal; position: absolute !important; font-weight: bold;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video file</font></font></font></div><div class="fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mejsoffscreen" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); clip-path: inset(50%); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Video Player[vid]</font></span><span class="mejsoffscreen" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); clip-path: inset(50%); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></font></font></div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Twitter,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/DanielTurnerPTF/status/1527283754464591877?s=20&t=83YatgE9UETttwJ_Vwd3sQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">industry shills</a>, dedicated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/former-tv-host-sues-facebook-over-climate-fact-checks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">climate change deniers</a>, and other conservative media&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/hodgetwins/status/1527044586991980545?s=20&t=lyyfG2BxukqmpLiJ9rfECA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">personalities</a>&nbsp;jumped to back Musk’s statement, sometimes promoting their&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JohnStossel/status/1526994470713151491?s=20&t=y00Y35jJfz6sd-CpsNlMYA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">own content</a>&nbsp;on the topic for engagement.</font></font></font></li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Glenn Beck: “Elon Musk Joins Glenn in Anti-ESG Crusade”</font></font></font></h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Beck is not new to ESG. The right-wing TV and radio host was an&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/glennbeck/status/1334303839680405505?lang=en" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">early adopter</a>&nbsp;of the “Great Reset” conspiracy theory in 2020 following the World Economic Forum’s annual Davos summit, along with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannons-deranged-election-conspiracy-theories-ranked" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Steve Bannon,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blazetv/alex-jones-emboldened-after-blaze-helps-him-spread-misinformation" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Alex Jones</a>, and a slew of other conservative influencers. </span>He has also been weaving ESG into this theory, which has been aptly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-bidens-presidency-already-has-its-first-conspiracy-theory-the-great-reset" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">described</a>&nbsp;as a “hodgepodge of one-world-government fears.”</font></font></font></p></div></div><div data-align="center" class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[twt]</font></font></font><figcaption class="media-playercaption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/100044199921205/posts/332773221639176" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">In December 2021</a>, Beck insisted that Citigroup’s implementation of ESG scores for its clients was part of “the Davos plan” to prevent individuals from getting loans.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=481436403403477" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">In January</a>, Beck claimed that the Davos elites are “designing everything – everything – in your life,” including the climate crisis, for the purpose of implementing the Great Reset, in part through ESG.&nbsp;</font></font></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beck worked with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmog.com/heartland-institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">fossil fuel-funded</a>&nbsp;Heartland Institute, to help spread his message. Heartland has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heartland.org/ESG/esg" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">testifying</a>&nbsp;before lawmakers in several states to back anti-ESG legislation, providing them with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/climate/republican-treasurers-climate-change.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">misleading information</a>&nbsp;about how financial institutions are implementing ESG strategies. Beck even wrote a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59797879-the-great-reset" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">book</a>&nbsp;with Heartland&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=481436403403477" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Editorial Director</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=989824618311060" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Justin Haskins</a>. In one&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbkCBIIol2Q" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">video</a>&nbsp;Beck claimed that “there are now 20 states that are starting to put anti-ESG legislation in because of his book.”</font></font></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February, Beck did indeed talk to at least one state legislature in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.idahoconservation.org/legislative-bill/sb-1405-divestment-from-disfavored-investments-2022/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Idaho</a>, calling ESG “CRT on steroids.” (In March, the Idaho legislature passed a bill aimed at discouraging state investment boards from making ESG considerations.)</font></font></font></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an April 4&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=721967852298457" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">video</a>&nbsp;titled “Elon Musk Joins Glenn in Anti-ESG Crusade,” Beck praised Tesla as a company and noted that Musk’s provocative tweets have sparked more conversations around ESG and lent credibility to criticism, especially given his perceived commitment to addressing the climate crisis.&nbsp;</font></font></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A true&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/glennbeck/status/1527321954130460672?s=20&t=Q-pHMY6qgdIG1lUs9fhjA" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Musk fanboy</a>, Beck has gone so far as to&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/glennbeck/status/1514794519216078857?s=20&t=n0ijrBct-kgO8wH32tjaaQ" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">blame</a>&nbsp;ESG and the Great Reset for roadblocks to his deal to buy Twitter.</font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">James Lindsay: “We’re going to do to ESG what we did to CRT”</font></font></font></h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lindsay, a critical theory opponent, has emerged as a loud ESG critic, particularly on Twitter. Lindsay is an influential figure in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/02/17/meet-james-lindsay-the-far-rights-world-level-expert-on-crt-and-race-marxism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">“critical race theory” panic</a>.</span> He was also instrumental in popularizing the baseless “groomer” slur which has been used to target LGBTQ people and falsely suggest they are child predators. (Lindsay was recently&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Esqueer/status/1555542816453017601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1555558374049255424%7Ctwgr%5E56851d512dce35fc8cbadbdbd4bb80eb2375bd6a%7Ctwcon%5Es2&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fnews%2Fjames-lindsay-permanently-banned-from-twitter-after-calling-harvard-instructor-a-child-sexualization-specialist" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">permanently suspended</a>&nbsp;from Twitter, where he had over&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-banned-ok-groomer-guy-james-lindsay-is-not-a-free-speech-martyr" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">300,000 followers</a>, for&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/NewDiscourses/status/1555572592416882688" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">calling</a>&nbsp;a trans Harvard instructor a “child sexualization specialist.”)&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, similarly to Beck, Lindsay is using his influence to spotlight ESG as a key feature of the Great Reset conspiracy theory, becoming increasingly obsessed with the topic and anyone who he feels could give it momentum – especially Musk. More broadly, Lindsay is focused on gathering a smorgasbord of right-wing grievances under the umbrella of ESG, with the intent of building a nearly all-encompassing cause for conservative activists to rally behind. Unlike some of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/01/bills-red-states-punish-climate-conscious-businesses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">lawmakers</a>&nbsp;who are primarily targeting climate-conscious businesses, Lindsay’s interest is more aligned with attacking the “social” aspect of ESG, which includes Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts (DEI).&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has taken aim at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/401942978606334" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">any efforts</a>&nbsp;to combat discrimination at companies such as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/332172082250091" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Starbucks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">falsely</a>&nbsp;labeling&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/175093267957974" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">DEI initiatives</a>&nbsp;as critical race theory or “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/477033674430597" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Woke Marxism</a>,” and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/444698527664112" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">writing,</a>&nbsp;“DEI won’t go away until after ESG is defeated. It’s a slightly separate fight, but it doesn’t even start until ESG is in ashes.”</font></font></font></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/396271359173496" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">targeted</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/394802399320392" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Disney</a>&nbsp;and linked it to ESG in order to&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220402191233/https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1510334165769756687" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">feed</a>&nbsp;into the homophobic and transphobic right-wing&nbsp;false&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/save-children-again-absurd-intensifying-right-wing-panic-lgbtq-people-are-grooming-minors" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accusation</a>&nbsp;that LGBTQ people are predators.&nbsp;</font></font></font></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He first started writing about ESG in&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220519000657/https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1527078214752952321" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">March 2021</a>&nbsp;on Twitter, around the same time that Beck started posting about the topic. Lately, though, he’s been writing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/388668593267106" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">extreme</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/383685503765415" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">statements</a>&nbsp;about&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220531211853/https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1531747006561107969" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">ESG</a>&nbsp;almost every day across&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/427546782712620" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">social media</a>. Many of these appeared in his tweets, which had thousands of likes and retweets, but are no longer available due to his suspension.</font></font></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In May, Lindsay&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/428245645976067" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">wrote</a>&nbsp;that “we’re going to do to ESG what we did to CRT,” in response to an article from&nbsp;<a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166561/elon-musk-newest-acolyte-rights-critical-energy-theory-nonsense" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The New Republic</a>&nbsp;examining ESG’s role in the broader culture wars. The article highlighted Musk’s tweets and noted that anti-critical race theory and anti-ESG groups have common funders.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lindsay repeatedly attempted to engage with Musk about ESG on Twitter, encouraging and agreeing with his objections to ESG and praising Tesla and SpaceX. On Facebook, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/428214225979209" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">invoked</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/428249249309040" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Musk</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/395553852578580" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">when</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220426143251/https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1518961122833010692" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">posting</a>&nbsp;about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/451895043611127" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">the issue</a>, and generally jumped to his&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220413024643/https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/status/1514071841085796352" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">defense</a>&nbsp;in the face of any&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConceptualJames/posts/441760081291290" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">criticism</a></font></font></font></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; clear: both; list-style: none; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In May, he addressed the “ESG Cartel” in a short&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW9ZuApy9KU" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">episode</a>&nbsp;of his New Discourses podcast and appeared on<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thefirsttv.com/watch/esg-scam-exposed-jesse-kelly-carol-roth-and-james-lindsay/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">I’m Right with Jesse Kelly</a></span>, where he talked about having conversations with lawmakers in “maybe a dozen states” regarding ESG and DEI and linked it to the influence of the World Economic Forum.&nbsp;</font></font></font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In June, he was a guest on&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://omny.fm/shows/the-charlie-kirk-show/the-theology-of-marxism-with-dr-james-lindsay" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Charlie Kirk Show</a></span>, to discuss how ESG is part of a “Marxist theology.”</font></font></font></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ESG is seemingly poised to continue gaining traction</font></font></font></h3></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If we learned anything from the rise of critical race theory to a national issue and right-wing media obsession, it’s that underestimating the right-wing media’s ability to create a moral panic out of opaque terminology has serious consequences. Musk’s tweets were all that right-wing media figures and conspiracy theorists needed to expand attacks on ESG. Now, conservative TV news outlets have picked up on the narrative. With midterms approaching, so is the opportunity to mobilize voters and shareholders against this new iteration of ever-evolving “woke” ideology.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are&nbsp;<a href="https://popular.info/p/the-multi-trillion-dollar-greenwashing?s=r" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">legitimate concerns</a>&nbsp;about ESG. But even if it isn't an effective path toward decarbonization, permitting a maliciously misleading interpretation conceived by the fossil fuel industry and its allies to dominate the media cycle certainly won’t get us there, and may even further demonize various types of climate action.&nbsp;</font></font></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">r</font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">ight-wing commentator Glenn Beck and religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osKzyIC4l2E" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition-duration="transition-duration" s="s" transition-property="transition-property" background-color="background-color" border-color="border-color" box-shadow="box-shadow" color="color" opacity="opacity" text-shadow="text-shadow" transform="transform" transition-timing-function="transition-timing-function" linear="linear" outline-offset="outline-offset" em="em" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">teamed up</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">for</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/utaheagle/posts/pfbid036bgNpUuRJocvZwhyEYT74CWDnbS8TKAqXz8xPj5aMUermNaEngjduxJMZH4xkSUgl" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition-duration="transition-duration" s="s" transition-property="transition-property" background-color="background-color" border-color="border-color" box-shadow="box-shadow" color="color" opacity="opacity" text-shadow="text-shadow" transform="transform" transition-timing-function="transition-timing-function" linear="linear" outline-offset="outline-offset" em="em" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">an event</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Tuesday that was organized by the Utah Eagle Forum on the dangers allegedly posed by “The Great Reset and ESG.”</span></b></font></font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Reset" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Great Reset</a>&nbsp;is the name for a plan&nbsp;created by the World Economic Forum&nbsp;on how best to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ESG refers to the use of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/esg-investing" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">environmental, social, and governance criteria</a>&nbsp;by investors when determining the worth and value of potential investments.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Great-Reset/Glenn-Beck/9781637630594" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Both</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.glennbeck.com/esg-the-great-reset" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">issues</a>&nbsp;have recently become a focus of Beck’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/and-so-it-begins-90-year-old-glenn-beck-delivers-dire-message-from-the-future/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">trademark</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/beck-everything-i-have-warned-about-for-the-last-ten-years-is-now-coming-true/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">doomsday</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/glenn-beck-warns-obama-is-about-to-snap-will-start-putting-conservatives-into-internment-camps/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">catastrophizing</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>But Beck sees hope in his fellow Mormons.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>As Beck does whenever he addresses a crowd made up of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he cited the fabled “White Horse Prophecy” while declaring that the audience has the power to call down miracles that will save this nation.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-white-horse-prophecy-glenn-beck-tells-utah-that-god-has-chosen-the-mormons-to-save-america-by-electing-ted-cruz/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">we explained</a>&nbsp;when Beck cited this prophecy in 2016 while campaigning in Utah for Sen. Ted Cruz, who was then running for president, and Sen. Mike Lee.</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 243); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Back in 1843, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, supposedly delivered a message known as “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Horse_Prophecy" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">The White Horse Prophecy</a>” that declared that one day, when the U.S. Constitution was hanging by a thread, the Mormon people would rise up and save this nation.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 243); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is how Brigham Young reportedly&nbsp;<a href="http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/Constitution-thread.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">explained it</a>&nbsp;in 1854:</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Will the Constitution be destroyed? No; it will be held inviolate by this people; and, as Joseph Smith said, “The time will come when the destiny of the nation will hang upon a single thread. At that critical juncture, this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction.”</font></span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2010, the LDS church issued an&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/blog/church-statement-on-white-horse-prophecy-and-political-neutrality" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">official statement</a>&nbsp;that “the so-called ‘White Horse Prophecy’&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 243);">is based on accounts that have not been substantiated by historical research and is not embraced as Church doctrine.”</span></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>The fact that the LDS church denies the legitimacy of this supposed prophecy has never prevented Beck from promoting it, as he did when speaking in Utah earlier this week.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Read&nbsp;<a href="https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/3-ne?lang=eng" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">3 Nephi,</a>” Beck beseeched the crowd. “I read it on the plane on the way here. You read 3 Nephi right now, and all I could see was America. We celebrate our victories, but we have not humbled ourselves in front of God. We have not asked for forgiveness for our sins.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Unless we humble ourselves, we will be swept off this land,” he&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/pbuX08CJVdA" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">continued</a>. “I am a convert. Where are the rest of the Mormons that will stand up and say, ‘We have this information; we were given the prophecy for this land’? The time is here. It’s now!”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“Do you really not believe that the Lord could rain miracles down on righteous people and save our nation and our land and our people?” Beck asked. “I know if you’re a Christian, you believe that he rose from the dead. I think that one’s a bigger miracle than saving us. Let’s believe and live our lives in a way—I promise you—if we live our lives in the way that we need to live our lives, we will not only witness the very hand of God in our life—I mean real miracles, we will see them—but if we are a righteous people, we can call them down. We must be righteous and call them down.”</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/climate/republican-treasurers-climate-change.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/climate/republican-treasurers-climate-change.html</a></div><div>
</div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div><b>How Republicans Are ‘Weaponizing’ Public Office Against Climate Action</b></div><div>A Times investigation revealed a coordinated effort by state treasurers to use government muscle and public funds to punish companies trying to reduce greenhouse gases.</div><div>
</div><div>Riley Moore stands in an office wearing a dark suit jacket unbuttoned with a white collared shirt without a tie. On the walls hang portraits of presidents and other officials.</div><div>Riley Moore, the West Virginia treasurer, announced last week that several major banks would be barred from government contracts with his state.Credit...Kristian Thacker for The New York Times</div><div>
</div><div>By David Gelles</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Gelles reviewed more than 10,000 pages of documents and emails while reporting for this article.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Aug. 5, 2022</b></div><div>Nearly two dozen Republican state treasurers around the country are working to thwart climate action on state and federal levels, fighting regulations that would make clear the economic risks posed by a warming world, lobbying against climate-minded nominees to key federal posts and using the tax dollars they control to punish companies that want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.</div><div>
</div><div>Over the past year, treasurers in nearly half the United States have been coordinating tactics and talking points, meeting in private and cheering each other in public as part of a well-funded campaign to protect the fossil fuel companies that bolster their local economies.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last week, Riley Moore, the treasurer of West Virginia, announced that several major banks — including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo — would be barred from government contracts with his state because they are reducing their investments in coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Mr. Moore and the treasurers of Louisiana and Arkansas have pulled more than $700 million out of BlackRock, the world’s largest investment manager, over objections that the firm is too focused on environmental issues. At the same time, the treasurers of Utah and Idaho are pressuring the private sector to drop climate action and other causes they label as “woke.”</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And treasurers from Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma joined a larger campaign to thwart the nominations of federal regulators who wanted to require that banks, funds and companies disclose the financial risks posed by a warming planet.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the nexus of these efforts is the State Financial Officers Foundation, a little-known nonprofit organization based in Shawnee, Kan., that once focused on cybersecurity, borrowing costs and managing debt loads, among other routine issues.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Then President Biden took office, promising to speed the country’s transition away from oil, gas and coal, the burning of which is dangerously heating the planet.</div><div>
</div><div>The foundation began pushing Republican state treasurers, who are mostly elected officials and who are responsible for managing their state’s finances, to use their power to promote oil and gas interests and to stymie Mr. Biden’s climate agenda, records show.</div><div>
</div><div>The New York Times reviewed thousands of pages of internal emails and documents obtained through public records requests by Documented, a watchdog group, that shed light on the treasurers’ efforts since January 2021.</div><div>
</div><div>At conferences, on weekly calls, and with a steady stream of emails, the foundation hosted representatives from the oil industry and funneled research and talking points from conservative groups to the state treasurers, who have channeled the private groups’ goals into public policy.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute and the American Petroleum Institute are among the conservative groups with ties to the fossil fuel industry that have been working with the State Financial Officers Foundation and the treasurers to shape their national strategy.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Many Democratic state treasurers support efforts to combat climate change and want banks and investment firms to be clear about risks posed to returns for retirees and others. Democratic lawmakers in California and New Jersey are working on legislation that would require their state pension systems to divest from fossil fuels. But Democrats have not mounted anything like the national campaign being orchestrated by the State Financial Officers Foundation.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Republican treasurers skirt the fact that global warming is an economic menace that is damaging industries like agriculture and causing extreme weather that devastates communities and costs taxpayers billions in recovery and rebuilding. Instead, they frame efforts to reduce emissions as a threat to employment and revenue, and have turned climate science into another front in the culture wars.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“This is a departure from their traditional roles,” said Robert Butkin, the former Oklahoma treasurer and a professor at the University of Tulsa. “There used to be a strong nonpartisan and bipartisan ethic among treasurers, but you’ve seen a lot of that erode over the past several years.”</div><div>
</div><div>‘Politically motivated’</div><div>
</div><div>In November, as major banks and corporations at a global summit in Glasgow were promising to take climate action, the Republican state treasurers were huddling at a State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, Fla., talking about ways to stop them.</div><div>
</div><div>At the meeting, the group’s chief executive, Derek Kreifels, made a presentation about a new law that had been signed by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican. It prohibited state agencies from investing in businesses that have cut ties with fossil fuel companies.</div><div>
</div><div><b>The Biden Administration’s Environmental Agenda</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>President Biden is pushing stronger regulations, but faces a narrow path to achieving his goals in the fight against global warming.</b></div><div>Long-Sought Climate Action: After decades of failed attempts, Congress is on the cusp of passing the nation’s first major climate law. The bill avoided the political pitfalls of past legislative attempts by offering only incentives to cut climate pollution, not taxes.</div><div>Extreme Heat: President Biden said that he would expand existing federal programs to help Americans cope with the extreme heat wrought by climate change, stopping short of declaring a national emergency.</div><div>
</div><div>Supreme Court Ruling: By limiting the Environmental Protection agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions, the court made it much harder for the president to achieve his climate goals.</div><div>Within weeks, Mr. Moore was working with legislators in West Virginia to write a similar bill, which became law in March. While Texas officials have been slow to enforce their law, Mr. Moore was quick to put it into action.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last week, he notified five major financial institutions — Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley — that they are barred from doing business with West Virginia because they have intentionally wound down their dealings with coal companies.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“If a bank, for instance, decides to say they have a no-lending policy as relates to thermal coal, well, then we’ll find a bank that doesn’t have that policy,” Mr. Moore said in an interview.</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Mr. Moore went on to offer a classic denial of the overwhelming scientific consensus that the continued burning of oil, gas and coal will lead to planetary catastrophe.</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>“The climate has been changing in the world since Earth was created,” Mr. Moore said. “Whether these greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to the warming of the globe, I’m not sure I necessarily agree with that.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>The banks targeted by Mr. Moore say they are not boycotting the fossil fuel industry. All of them still do substantial business with oil and gas companies, but in the long run, they say, moving away from fossil fuels makes economic sense. West Virginia, for example, is the second-largest coal-producing state in the country, but production has declined significantly during the past two decades.</div><div>
</div><div>“He’s trying to counter pressure that’s coming from progressives on the left,” said Loren Allen, general counsel of the West Virginia Bankers Association, which lobbied against the new law celebrated by Mr. Moore. “Our banks are tied up in the center of a battle that no one can really win.”</div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Kreifels declined an interview but said in a statement that concerns over issues like climate change were “putting politics over profits, and likely reducing shareholder value.”</div><div>
</div><div>Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma have passed similar laws this year. “Kentucky joins our growing coalition of states that have taken concrete steps to push back against the woke capitalists who are trying to destroy our energy industries,” Mr. Moore said in a news release praising the moves by the states.</div><div>
</div><div>Republican lawmakers in more than a dozen other states, including New York, Oregon and Virginia, are trying to advance similar legislation.</div><div>
</div><div>The laws could cost taxpayers. A recent study found that Texas cities, where some financial institutions have voluntarily left the market because of laws targeting companies that embrace environmental, social and governance priorities, collectively known as E.S.G., are likely to incur up to $532 million in higher interest costs in less than a year because of the legislation.</div><div>
</div><div>“These officials are using the public finance market to make political statements,” said Daniel Garrett, a finance professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the authors of the study. “They can use these laws as a carrot or stick as they desire, but the costs can be potentially quite large.”</div><div>
</div><div><b>The treasurers are increasingly going after individual financial institutions.</b></div><div>
</div><div>In addition to the banks targeted by Mr. Moore, the treasurers of Utah and Idaho are criticizing plans by S&P Global, the ratings agency, to integrate climate risk into its credit ratings of states. And BlackRock, which manages some $8.5 trillion, has been the target of withering attacks for its stance on environmental issues.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Larry Fink, the BlackRock chief executive, has been outspoken in his desire to steer away from fossil fuels and toward what he considers a more sustainable, greener economy.</b></div><div>
</div><div>“Every government, company, and shareholder must confront climate change,” Mr. Fink wrote in a public letter in 2020 in which he described the integration of climate risk into investment decisions as “a fundamental reshaping of finance.”</div><div>
</div><div>In response, Mr. Moore’s office stopped using BlackRock to help manage West Virginia’s operating funds, withdrawing about $20 million.</div><div>
</div><div>“Larry Fink has stated it very clearly that he thinks capitalism has the power to shape society,” Mr. Moore said. “But my state doesn’t want the same shape of society that Larry Fink does.”</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Other treasurers followed suit. In March, the Arkansas treasurer, Dennis Milligan, pulled $125 million from BlackRock. And in April, the treasurer of Louisiana, John Schroder, emailed Mr. Moore and Marlo Oaks, the Utah treasurer, and boasted about withdrawing more than $600 million from BlackRock accounts. Mr. Schroder said he had also blocked Citibank, Bank of America and JPMorgan from almost $1 billion in bond financing.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“That’s excellent, John!!!” Mr. Moore replied, according to emails reviewed by The Times. “Great work!!!”</span></div><div>
</div><div>BlackRock declined to comment.</div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Milligan, the Arkansas treasurer, emailed a statement in which he said, “I feel a strong sense of responsibility to do my part in not allowing the liberal ‘woke’ agenda to disadvantage the very people I was elected to serve.” Mr. Schroder and Mr. Oaks declined requests for interviews.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Withdrawals by a few states represent a tiny slice of BlackRock’s business. But inside banks and investment firms, there is mounting concern that the state bans could spread to pension funds, which account for nearly $4 trillion in investments across the country</b>.</div><div>
</div><div>“We already have a lot of divisions in this country,” said Noah Friend, the former general counsel for the Kentucky treasurer. “I don’t like the idea that if you’re a Republican you have to bank with this company and if you’re a Democrat you have to bank with that company. Everything becomes this politicized decision about who you do business with.”</div><div>
</div><div>‘A coordinated attack’</div><div>
</div><div>Julie Ellsworth, the Idaho treasurer, asked the State Financial Officers Foundation to distribute a memo that misrepresented the position of banks on environmental, social and governance issues.Credit...Keith Ridler/Associated Press]</div><div>
</div><div>Behind the treasurers and the State Financial Officers Foundation is a complex web of conservative groups linked to the fossil fuel industry, as well as some of the biggest names on Wall Street.</div><div>
</div><div>In March, Julie Ellsworth, the Idaho treasurer, asked Mr. Kreifels to distribute a memo about the fossil fuel boycott bills to other state treasurers, according to the emails.</div><div>
</div><div>The memo had been prepared using research from the Heartland Institute, a think tank with a history of denying climate science, and it misrepresented how banks and other financial institutions were implementing their E.S.G. strategies.</div><div>
</div><div>“If you’re a small-business owner with a gasoline powered car, you’re eventually going to be phased out of banks’ portfolios, unless you switch to electric vehicles, of course,” the memo said in a section about how banks would use E.S.G. to force businesses to change. “Similarly, if you want to buy a house in the future that runs on natural gas, you, too, won’t be able to get a mortgage until you put solar panels on the roof.”</div><div>
</div><div>No banks have proposed such measures. Ms. Ellsworth declined to comment.</div><div>
</div><div>The Heartland Institute has also worked to amplify the treasurers’ message and connect them with influential conservative media personalities including Glenn Beck, records show.</div><div>
</div><div>Other groups supporting the treasurers’ efforts include the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that has long opposed action to combat climate change and that has received substantial funding from the oil billionaires Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The State Financial Officers Foundation this year hired <b>CRC Advisors, a conservative strategy firm that was founded by Leonard Leo,</b> who has led a multiyear effort to stack federal courts with judges who oppose climate action. In recent months, CRC Advisors has helped coordinate media responses for treasurers, including Mr. Oaks of Utah, according to emails reviewed by The Times</span>.</div><div>
</div><div>And the State Financial Officers Foundation shares many ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a conservative group with longstanding ties to the Koch brothers.</div><div>
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The American Legislative Exchange Council chief executive, Lisa Nelson, is on the State Financial Officers Foundation board, and ALEC’s chief economist, Jonathan Williams, is a senior policy adviser to the foundation.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Last July, the State Financial Officers Foundation hosted a conference in conjunction with ALEC, and the two groups have even shared blocks of discounted hotel rooms for their event. Mr. Moore and Mr. Kreifels were among the treasurers attending ALEC’s annual meeting in Atlanta last week.</div><div>
</div><div>“The State Financial Officers Foundation is a key node in a network of political groups waging a coordinated attack on climate policy,” said Jesse Coleman, a senior researcher at Documented, the watchdog organization that obtained the emails. The group is working “to weaponize state treasurers’ offices against federal appointees, regulations, and corporate policies that address climate change,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As a nonprofit organization, the State Financial Officers Foundation is not legally required to disclose its funders. A partial list of the organization’s financial supporters on its website shows that it gets funding from not only conservative groups but also from some of the biggest companies in the world, many of which say they are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They include JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Visa, Mastercard, Fidelity, Federated Hermes and SAP — all of which have publicly embraced E.S.G. principles.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Most of the sponsors declined to comment, and many of their contributions were relatively small. In a statement, Beth Richek, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman, acknowledged the bank’s support for the group. “While we may not agree with every position they take, our mutual engagement is important for our company, employees, and customers,” she said.</div><div>
</div><div>Blocking federal appointees</div><div>
</div><div>Saule Omarova, President Biden’s first nominee to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, withdrew after treasurers portrayed her as a “radical extremist.”Credit...Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times]</div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Biden came to office with a vision: the entire federal government would be focused on reducing the country’s emissions, with new rules implemented across federal agencies staffed by political appointees who embraced the effort.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among the obstacles Mr. Biden didn’t anticipate were the state treasurers.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">An early sign of turbulence came in May 2021, when 15 treasurers sent a letter to John Kerry, Mr. Biden’s climate envoy, raising concerns about what they said was the administration’s hostility toward the oil and gas industry.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Reckless attacks on the fossil fuel industry ultimately cut off paychecks for workers and take food off the table for hard-working middle-class families,” the letter read.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">By the end of the year, the treasurers were publicly lobbying against a bevy of proposed rules and nominees.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among their first targets was Saule Omarova, Mr. Biden’s nominee for comptroller of the currency. Ms. Omarova was heavily criticized by Republican senators, some moderate Democrats and the banking industry for her desire to limit speculative trading by banks and to open the Federal Reserve to retail banking.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But she drew the ire of the treasurers for saying that if fossil fuel companies went bankrupt it would help fight climate change. The State Financial Officers Foundation issued a letter signed by more than 20 financial officers calling her a “radical extremist.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>When Ms. Omarova withdrew her nomination in December, Mr. Kreifels <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">sent an email to the treasurers congratulating them. “It’s an honor to work along side you all,” he said in an email titled “VICTORY!</span>”</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Two months later, the treasurers focused on another nominee: Sarah Bloom Raskin, whom Mr. Biden had nominated to be the Federal Reserve’s head of bank oversight. Ms. Raskin, a former Federal Reserve and Treasury official, has argued that financial regulators should police climate risks more diligently.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Kreifels urged the treasurers to speak out against Ms. Raskin, describing her as an “anti-energy climate change alarmist.”</div><div>
</div><div>In emails to state treasurers, the foundation provided draft tweets and other messaging strategies. “We must make as much noise about this as possible,” Mr. Kreifels wrote. “Make this THE ‘kitchen table’ issue in your state for the week.”</div><div>
</div><div>Like Ms. Omarova, Ms. Raskin withdrew her nomination. “Sarah was subject to baseless attacks from industry and conservative interest groups,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.</div><div>
</div><div>The treasurers have also set their sights on new federal rules and regulations intended to strengthen the government’s ability to act on climate change.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Late last year, the State Financial Officers Foundation worked with the Heritage Foundation to respond to proposals from the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a government panel assigned to minimize risk in the financial sector, on ways to reduce the threats posed by climate change, records show.</b></div><div>
</div><div>And soon after that, Mr. Oaks, the Utah treasurer, drafted a letter opposing a potential Department of Labor rule that would allow retirement plans to consider risks from global warming in their investment strategy. Mr. Kreifels distributed the draft to the foundation’s members, and more than a dozen treasurers signed the final letter. The Department of Labor has not decided whether to implement the rule.</div><div>
</div><div>This year, the treasurers targeted the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. After the agency proposed a rule to require banks to consider climate-related financial risk, executives from the Heritage Foundation sent Mr. Kreifels and Mr. Oaks a memo outlining their opposition. Within weeks, dozens of state treasurers and attorneys general from Republican-led states submitted comments objecting to the proposed rule.</div><div>
</div><div>“This special concern for and attention to climate-related risks is irrational,” one comment read.</div><div>
</div><div>And in May, Mr. Kreifels organized a call with the treasurers to discuss regulations proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require companies to publicly disclose climate risks to investors. <b>The featured guest was a representative from the American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying arm of the fossil fuel industry.</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The next month, the State Financial Officers Foundation sent a 20-page letter signed by more than a dozen treasurers, calling the S.E.C.’s proposed rule, which has not yet been enacted, “irrational climate exceptionalism, elevating climate issues to a place of prominence in disclosures that they do not deserve.”</span></div><div>
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp; &nbsp; LATEST</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tucker Carlson: Fossil fuels are what make the US a rich country – but Biden doesn’t care</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">July 13, 2022 | Robert Jonathan |&nbsp; Print Article</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Facebook</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Twitter</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Reddit</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">LinkedIn</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gab</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(Video: Fox News)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fox News host Tucker Carlson is going scorched earth, as it were, on globalists and Green New Dealmakers who allegedly would destroy domestic and worldwide economic prosperity and worsen the energy crisis in the name of environmentalism.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In one of his signature, thought-provoking editorials that contain a lot to unpack, Carlson called out the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, President Joe Biden, and Squad member “Sandy” Cortez (“Westchester County’s first socialist revolutionary,”) and others for circumventing the democratic process in imposing disastrous policies to supposedly combat climate change with the implementation of renewables.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The obsession by gatekeeping institutional investors with a high</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Environmental, Social and, Governance (ESG)</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">&nbsp;score</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> is also a culprit in creating energy shortages and causing the suffering of millions of people. “So, at the very moment that Biden is sending our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which we own, he doesn’t, to his son’s business partners in China, he is vowing to end fossil fuels in this country and boost our ESG score,” Carlson asserted.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“So, the poorer you get, the more human suffering there is, the higher your ESG score, and that’s important because companies will not invest unless you have a high ESG score,” Carlson claimed.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“So, everything that’s happened in Sri Lanka, Ghana, and the Netherlands is happening at the behest not simply of ideologues, but of some of the largest financial institutions in the world,” America’s most influential pundit further claimed in the monologue embedded here in two parts in referencing civil unrest that has occurred in those countries.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Carlson lamented that these decisions are being made by left-wing bureaucrats and elitists who couldn’t figure out how to drive a stick shift or program a coffeemaker and whose knowledge of energy issues is merely theoretical and ideological.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Carlson recalled how Ghana, for example, agreed to limit its carbon emission and also switch over to organic fertilizer. “Last year, Ghana experienced a complete shutdown of its national power supply…International observers say the country is now facing severe food shortages and hunger, starvation within a matter of months…It’s not just Ghana. The same thing just happened in Sri Lanka….”</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Authorities in the Netherlands, a country that is said to be the world’s second-biggest food exporter, “just ordered farmers to cut virtually all of their nitrogen oxide emissions to ‘save the environment.’ Now, doing that would shutter most farms in the Netherlands and destroy the country’s food supply and once again, that led to riots,” Carlson observed.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“Fossil fuels are the only thing that stands between the United States becoming Ghana.</span>&nbsp;Fossil fuels are the only thing that make the United States a rich country and not a poor country,” Carlson explained.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We have the largest recoverable oil reserves in the world. If we can’t tap those, we will be Ghana. We will be poor, but Joe Biden doesn’t care, and so he is clamping down on our ability to extract them and like the leaders of every other country, driven into the ground by green energy schemes thought up by morons like Sandy Cortez, he’s taking no responsibility for the damage he has caused.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Biden, in particular, “doesn’t know anything about refining or extracting or how the grid works or anything about anything because he’s never had a real job because he’s worked for the federal government since he was in his twenties.</b>”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Noting that energy blackouts have already occurred in California and Texas, states which rely, in part, on renewables, Carlson concluded by warning that “we’re watching countries around the world…collapsing and entering into a state of revolution because these morons tampered with their energy grids.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Author Marc Morano punctuated the discussion by telling Carlson that “they’ve been at a war on agriculture for decades, and their goal is to literally get us to eat insects and this lab-grown fake meat.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE</div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="white-space: pre;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Tucker Hosts Climate Denier, Calls Green Energy a 'War Against People'&nbsp;</b>- Yahoo News</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yahoo News</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marc Morano. Political activist. Fox News. Tucker Carlson opened his Tuesday show railing against environmentally friendly means of energy ...</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carlson opened his Tuesday show railing against environmentally friendly means of energy production, and then hosted a climate change denier to discuss how green energy is part of a “war against people.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Carlson began by discussing the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/sri-lanka-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-manages-to-flee-country-on-military-jet" rel="nofollow noopener" target="blank" data-ylk="slk:ongoing public revolt" class="link " data-rapid_p="22" data-v9y="1" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">ongoing public revolt</a>&nbsp;against political leaders in Sri Lanka amid food and fuel shortages. The protests are the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/11/asia/sri-lanka-crisis-whats-next-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="blank" data-ylk="slk:result of" class="link " data-rapid_p="23" data-v9y="1" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">result of</a>&nbsp;a combination&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/happening-sri-lanka-rcna37768" rel="nofollow noopener" target="blank" data-ylk="slk:of factors" class="link " data-rapid_p="24" data-v9y="1" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">of factors</a>&nbsp;including excessive government borrowing,&nbsp;<b>heavy monsoons,</b>&nbsp;depleted tax and tourism revenue, the decreased value of the rupee, and<b>&nbsp;a government ban on chemical fertilizers that limited harvests.&nbsp;</b>Carlson honed in on this final cause.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What has happened in the island nation is an example of a country being “driven into the ground by green energy schemes thought up by morons like… [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] AOC,” Carlson said, marking&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-rants-that-he-doesnt-care-about-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-during-minute-long-rant-about-aoc" rel="nofollow noopener" target="blank" data-ylk="slk:yet another instance" class="link " data-rapid_p="25" data-v9y="1" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">yet another instance</a>&nbsp;of the New York congresswoman’s name&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-mocks-aocs-riot-fear-sandys-heart-is-still-beating-fast" rel="nofollow noopener" target="blank" data-ylk="slk:being mentioned derisively" class="link " data-rapid_p="26" data-v9y="1" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">being mentioned derisively</a>&nbsp;on the primetime Fox show.</font></b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We are watching countries around the world… collapsing and entering into a state of revolution because these<b>&nbsp;morons tampered with their energy grids.</b>&nbsp;But they don’t care,” Carlson said. “They are going to continue doing it unless someone stops them—until exactly the same thing happens here.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marc Morano, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/rush-limbaugh/climate-change-misinformer-year-marc-morano" rel="nofollow noopener" target="blank" data-ylk="slk:global warming denier" class="link " data-rapid_p="27" data-v9y="1" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">global warming denier</a>&nbsp;whom Carlson did not introduce as such, had a similar point of view.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think green energy and this whole war on agriculture… the voters cannot support this anymore,” Morano said.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We are seeing what’s happening in Sri Lanka, we are seeing what’s happening in the Netherlands, there are protests in other countries growing, [and] Canada is following the same line with fertilizer. This is a war against modern civilization,” he added, reminiscent of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-and-friends-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-green-new-deal-would-be-civilizational-suicide" rel="nofollow noopener" target="blank" data-ylk="slk:past criticisms" class="link " data-rapid_p="28" data-v9y="1" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">past criticisms</a>&nbsp;of Ocasio-Cortez’s proposals from Fox figures.</font></b></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is a war against people,” Carlson chimed in. Life expectancy will “drop to the floor” if decision makers even so much as “tamper with” fossil fuels, which are “our greatest blessing,” he added.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“How do we allow people like [Ocasio-]Cortez and [Joe] Biden, who do not know what a carburetor is, to lecture us about something as complex as energy policy? Like, this is insane,” Carlson huffed.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morano responded by blaming individuals in the&nbsp;<b>World Economic Forum and U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, who “can go to the CEOs of major corporations</b>&nbsp;and get them to sign a climate pledge, which then commits them to all of these green goals.”</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.8em; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“They believe that us, the unwashed masses, if left to our own devices, will create inequity, racism, environmental destruction, [and] the climate crisis,” Morono claimed. “They literally want to regulate not just our farming but every aspect of our lives, and that is really what the&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">World Economic Forum and the United Nations is after here, is controlling humans.”</span></font></p></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barking Up The Wrong Tree? California Reparations Report Wants More Trees Planted ... - MRCTV</font></b></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MRCTV</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Republican Marc Morano, head of the website Climate Depot, the presence of “heat islands” is a real phenomenon, but the solution ...</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;===</font></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/climate/republicans-blackrock-climate.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/climate/republicans-blackrock-climate.html</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wAPO&nbsp; no lnx
How an Organized Republican Effort Punishes Companies for Climate Action

Legislators

and their allies are running an aggressive campaign that uses public

money and the law to pressure businesses they say are pushing “woke”

causes.

Protesters at the Glasgow climate summit last year. A

number of banks, investors and companies pledged at the talks to cut

their greenhouse gas emissions.

By David Gelles and Hiroko Tabuchi
<b>May 27, 2022</b>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In

West Virginia, the state treasurer has pulled money from BlackRock, the

world’s largest asset manager, because the Wall Street firm has flagged

climate change as an economic risk.

In Texas, a new law bars the

state’s retirement and investment funds from doing business with

companies that the state comptroller says are boycotting fossil fuels.

Conservative lawmakers in 15 other states are promoting similar

legislation.</span>
<b>
And officials in Utah and Idaho have

assailed a major ratings agency for considering environmental risks and

other factors, in addition to the balance sheet, when assessing states’

creditworthiness.</b>

Across the country, Republican lawmakers

and their allies have launched a campaign to try to rein in what they

see as activist companies trying to reduce the greenhouse gases that are

dangerously heating the planet.

“We’re an energy state, and energy accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue for us,” sa<b>id Riley Moore, the West Virginia state treasurer.</b>

“All of our jobs come from coal and gas. I mean, this is who we are.

This is part of our way of life here in the state. And they’re telling

us that these industries are bad.”

<b>“We have an existential threat here,” Mr. Moore said. “We have to fight back.”</b>

In

doing so, Mr. Moore and others have pushed climate change from the

scientific realm into the political battles already raging over topics

like voting rights, abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. issues. In recent months,

conservatives have moved beyond tough words and used legislative and

financial leverage to pressure the private sector to drop climate action

and any other causes they label as “woke.”

“There is a

coordinated effort to chill corporate engagement on these issues,” said

Daniella Ballou-Aares, chief executive of the Leadership Now Project, a

nonprofit organization that wants corporations to address threats to

democracy. “And it is an effective campaign. Companies are starting to

go into hiding.”

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The

pushback has been spearheaded by a group of Republican state officials

that has reached out to financial organizations, facilitated media

appearances and threatened to punish companies that, among other things,

divest from fossil fuels.

They have worked alongside a nonprofit

organization that has run television ads, dispatched roaming billboard

trucks and rented out a Times Square billboard criticizing BlackRock for

championing what they call woke causes, including environmentalism.</span>

These

efforts come after years during which many in the financial sector

boasted that they were prioritizing environmental, social and governance

issues, also known as ESG, rather than pure profits.

<b>That activism has often put companies at odds with the Republican Party, traditionally the ally of big business.</b>

In 2015, Salesforce and other big employers threatened to leave Indiana

after the state passed, and then quickly rolled back, a law that would

have allowed businesses to refuse service to gay customers. Nike faced a

fierce backlash for its 2018 ad featuring Colin Kaepernick, the former

N.F.L. quarterback who knelt during the national anthem to protest

racism and police brutality.
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
As

the signs of a warming planet have grown more apparent over the past

five years — in the form of more destructive storms and fires, record

heat and drought — and as pressure has grown from consumers and liberal

groups to take action, corporations have warmed to the notion of using

capital and markets to create a cleaner economy. Faith-based groups,

universities and foundations have divested from oil, gas and coal. New

York State’s pension fund plans to start shedding its fossil fuels

holdings, and Maine became the first state last year to require both its

Treasury and its public employee pension fund to divest from fossil

fuels.</span>

When President Trump declared in 2017 that he would

pull the United States from the Paris climate accord, more than 2,000

businesses and investors — including Apple, Amazon and Mars — signed a

pledge to continue to work toward climate goals.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Biden Administration’s Environmental Agenda
President

Biden is pushing stronger regulations, but faces a narrow path to

achieving his goals in the fight against global warming.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Resource Protection: The Environmental Protection Agency has moved to

restore authority to states and tribes to stop energy projects that

could pollute local waters.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Defining ‘Habitat’: The Biden

administration is doing away with a Trump-era definition of the term

that was at odds with the conservation purposes of the Endangered

Species Act.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Electric Vehicles: The transportation secretary

outlined proposed regulations that would require charging stations built

with federal dollars to be located no more than 50 miles apart.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Solar Tariffs: The Biden administration announced it wouldn’t impose new

tariffs on the solar industry for two years, in an effort to encourage

broader adoption of solar energy.

<b>Then, in 2019, a group of

senior business leaders promised to redefine “the purpose of a

corporation” and prioritize the environment, workers and communities.</b>

And

a record number of banks, investors and companies at the United Nations

climate talks in Glasgow last year committed to reaching net zero (the

point where their activities no longer add greenhouse gases to the

atmosphere) by 2050. Several said they saw opportunity in investing in

new kinds of technology needed to power an economy that is not based on

oil, gas or coal.

Larry Fink, the chief executive of BlackRock,

has been among the most outspoken executives, using his annual letter to

corporate leaders to implore them to look beyond the bottom line and

make a positive contribution to society.

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Larry

Fink, the head of BlackRock, in a TV appearance in March. “Every

company and every industry will be transformed by the transition to a

net-zero world</span>,” he has said.

<b>In his most recent

letter, issued in January, Mr. Fink made the case for what he calls

“stakeholder capitalism,” saying there is a sound business rationale for

taking up the fight against climate change and imploring other

companies to act.</b>

“Every company and every industry will be

transformed by the transition to a net-zero world,” Mr. Fink wrote. “The

question is, will you lead, or will you be led?”

Other executives also say they are unbowed by the brewing conservative backlash.

“It’s

not going to stop me,” said Marc Benioff, the co-founder and co-chief

executive of Salesforce and one of the most outspoken business leaders

on social and political issues. “It’s pretty hard to restrict or control

how a C.E.O. creates the culture of his company.”

Mr. Benioff

dismissed many of the actions of conservatives as theatrics.

“Politicians have to do what politicians do, which is try to get

elected,” Mr. Benioff said. “It’s a lot of posturing for the base.”

[The

Texas legislature last year, which passed a bill that would block state

agencies from doing business with financial firms that divest from

fossil fuels.

Republican lawmakers, however, are becoming more organized in their efforts to slow corporate progress on climate issues.

<b>Mr.

Moore, the West Virginia state treasurer, coordinated a letter in

November from 16 state treasurers and comptrollers to banks across the

country, threatening “collective action in response to the ongoing and

growing economic boycott of traditional energy production industries by

U.S. financial institutions</b>.”

“It is our sincere hope that no

financial institution will be rendered ineligible to provide banking

services to our states,” the letter said.

And in January, Mr.

Moore pulled about $20 million out of a fund managed by BlackRock

because the firm has encouraged other companies to reduce emissions.

BlackRock still manages several billion for West Virginia’s state

retirement system. “We’re divesting from BlackRock because they’re

divesting from us,” Mr. Moore said in an interview.

In private, elected officials in conservative states have been even more blunt.

<b>“These big banks are virtue signaling because they are woke,” Gary Howell, a West Virginia state representative</b>

who sponsored a bill that would blacklist companies that have divested

from fossil fuels, wrote in a Feb. 8 email to Mr. Moore. The message was

obtained by Documented, a corporate watchdog group, under a Freedom of

Information Act request. “They either shut up or get on the list, that

is my goal,” he wrote.

Mr. Howell did not respond to a request for comment.

Idaho’s

top elected officials, including the governor and the entire

congressional delegation, sent a letter last week to the chief executive

of S&P Global, the ratings agency, objecting to the company’s use

of <b>ESG </b>metrics in its rankings of states. “It is impossible for

the State of Idaho not to conclude that S&P has adopted a

politicized ratings system,” the Republicans wrote. Officials in other

states, including Utah, have sent similar letters.

Curtis Loftis,

the South Carolina state treasurer, emailed senior executives at

JPMorgan on Sept. 1 and warned banks “to stay out of political culture

wars and particularly abstain from the petty, ‘woke’ cancel culture.”

Mr.

Fink of BlackRock has emerged as a main target of conservatives. Last

June, BlackRock joined with Vanguard and State Street to help an

activist hedge fund, Engine No. 1, win three seats on the board of Exxon

with the goal of pushing the energy giant to reduce its carbon

footprint.

Months later, a nonprofit group called Consumers’

Research received an influx of funding from undisclosed donors and began

running ads attacking Mr. Fink.

Will Hild, executive director of

Consumers’ Research, told CPAC, the Conservative Political Action

Conference, in February that Mr. Fink and BlackRock had “helped vote on

three radical environmentalists to the board of directors of Exxon whose

stated goal is to get that company not focused on serving American

consumers affordable gas but on Larry Fink’s personal politics.”

BlackRock

seemed to backtrack this month when it said it was likely to support

fewer shareholder proposals calling for climate action.

People

familiar with BlackRock said the pressure was not changing the firm’s

investment strategy. But the company has scrambled to limit the fallout

in states like Texas, stressing that it is following the wishes of its

clients and investing broadly.

“We are perhaps the world’s

largest investor in fossil fuel companies, and, as a long-term investor

in these companies, we want to see these companies succeed and prosper,”

BlackRock’s head of external affairs, Dalia Blass, wrote in a letter to

Texas regulators in January.

BlackRock, on behalf of its

clients, had $259 billion in assets invested in fossil fuel companies

around the world, with $91 billion invested in Texas fossil fuel

companies alone, Ms. Blass stressed, listing BlackRock’s sizable

holdings in Texas energy companies, including Exxon Mobil,

ConocoPhillips and Kinder Morgan.

BlackRock also this month said

it would support fewer shareholder proposals calling for climate action

because “we do not consider them to be consistent with our clients’

long-term financial interests.”

In a statement, BlackRock said it

was “committed to engaging with all stakeholders to ensure they

understand our investment decisions are driven by just one thing: our

fiduciary duty to our clients.”

Casey Harrell, a senior

strategist at The Sunrise Project, a climate advocacy group, said

“BlackRock is trying to have it all ways, acting like it is trying to

please everyone.”

The efforts appear to be having an impact

beyond BlackRock, as well. At the annual meetings of big banks and oil

companies — including BP, ConocoPhillips, and Citi — shareholders voted

down climate proposals that would have slowed investments in fossil fuel

projects.

As the stock markets sink and concerns about inflation

grow, the pushback against environmental, social and governance

concerns is spreading.
<b>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, waded into the debate. “ESG is a scam,</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">”

he said on Twitter on this month. “It has been weaponized by phony

social justice warriors.” Shortly after that he shared a meme that

declared an ESG score “determines how compliant your business is with

the leftist agenda.”</span>

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And

last week, the global head of responsible investments for HSBC Asset

Management, Stuart Kirk, made a provocative presentation titled “Why

investors need not worry about climate risk</span>” at a Financial Times event in London.

Describing

climate risk as a problem in the far-off future, Mr. Kirk said,

“Climate change is not a financial risk that we need to worry about,”

adding, “Who cares if Miami is six meters underwater in 100 years?”

That

view is at odds with the findings of the world’s leading climate

scientists. A major United Nations report warned last month that the

world could reach a threshold by the end of this decade beyond which the

dangers of global warming — including worsening floods, droughts and

wildfires — will grow considerably. In 2021, there were 20 weather or

climate-related disasters in the United States that each cost more than

$1 billion in losses, according to the federal government.

On

social media, Mr. Kirk was celebrated by some and derided by others. Top

executives at the bank said his words did not reflect HSBC’s position.<b>

The Financial Times reported that Mr. Kirk had been suspended, pending

an internal investigation, something HSBC would not confirm.</b> In a LinkedIn post, Noel Quinn, HSBC’s group chief executive, repeated the bank’s commitment to combating climate change.

“Our ambition is to be the leading bank supporting the global economy in the transition to net zero,” he said.

</font>

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</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://cei.org/blog/perspectives-on-woke-capital-and-politicized-investing/">https://cei.org/blog/perspectives-on-woke-capital-and-politicized-investing/</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lassman:<a href="https://cei.org/blog/dont-believe-the-hype-esg-investing-advice-hides-serious-flaws/">&nbsp;https://cei.org/blog/dont-believe-the-hype-esg-investing-advice-hides-serious-flaws/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3/21 not by kl</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">spooked sparked by?</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">recently, the Competitive Enterprise Institute hosted a&nbsp;<a href="https://cei.org/event/the-dictatorship-of-woke-capital-book-forum-featuring-author-steve-soukup-and-richard-morrison/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">virtual book event</a>&nbsp;for&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Political Forum</span>&nbsp;publisher Steve Soukup’s new book,&nbsp;<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B083ZJ4SG1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Dictatorship of Woke Capital: How Political Correctness Captured Big Business</span></a>, featuring Steve, myself, and<b>&nbsp;CEI president Kent Lassman</b>. Steve’s book raises a number of interesting issues regarding corporate governance and the role of business in the modern world. See the video below for our full discussion. [vid]</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in addition, I’d like to share a few highlights that reflect on CEI’s own work on the same themes. I asked Steve during our conversation about the extent to which businesspeople have been infected by the anti-capitalist mindset of society at large, and feel the need to apologize for making money, or “buy back” their moral status by supporting a laundry list of left-wing policy positions in their roles as corporate managers.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This is a theme CEI’s founder Fred Smith has discussed frequently.</b>&nbsp;Writing for&nbsp;<a href="https://cei.org/opeds_articles/confessions-of-a-capitalist/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Forbes</em></a>&nbsp;in 2014, Fred cited earlier 20<span style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; line-height: 0; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;">th</span>&nbsp;century writers like publisher Ernest Benn and economist Joseph Schumpeter on this trend:</font></p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; border-left: 0.25em solid; padding-left: 1em;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Businesspeople have responded weakly over the last century to [attacks on their moral legitimacy], rarely mounting any strategic moral defense</span><span style="background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><b>. Economist Joseph Schumpeter explained this passivity as the result of the rationalistic nature of capitalism</b>. The rational attitude of businessmen, he argued, would lead them to believe that logical arguments, emphasizing capitalism’s economic achievements, would suffice. Jobs and tax payments are noted but the role of business in advancing a moral society is rarely mentioned.</span></font></font></p></blockquote><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; border-left: 0.25em solid; padding-left: 1em; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But at least one businessman responded creatively and aggressively. That man was Ernest Benn. In 1925, in an England already well down the road to socialism, he wrote the memoir&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Confessions of a Capitalist</em>. The book is a clear, cheerful discussion of the creative role of business in society.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ease with which Fred reaches back a century for examples of the current debate emphasizes how little is actually new in this discussion. The original progressive theorists of the early 20<span style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; line-height: 0; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;">th</span>&nbsp;century provided most of the theoretical basis for the demands currently being made of corporate America. Steve devotes quite a bit of time in his book to the origins of public administrative (and how government regulators are expected to know better than the rest of us), including the baleful influence of such&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/nyregion/princeton-university-woodrow-wilson.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">now-controversial</a>&nbsp;figures as Woodrow Wilson.&nbsp;</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I wrote for&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">OpenMarket</em>&nbsp;<a href="https://cei.org/blog/ceos-join-davos-wonks-to-launch-new-corporate-esg-disclosures/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">in January</a>&nbsp;about the<b>&nbsp;new joint ESG venture between big companies and the World Economic Forum</b>, which had recently launched its “Measuring Stakeholder Capitalism” report. It was presented as some kind of revolutionary new initiative, but was perhaps less than the hype suggested:</font></p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; border-left: 0.25em solid; padding-left: 1em; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s a long history of capitalism’s critics coming up with new systems for assessing ethical business operations. Management scholars and business executives started talking about “corporate social responsibility” as far back as the 1950s, when economist Howard Bowen coined the term in his<b> 1953 book&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Social Responsibilities of the Businessman</em>.</b> Since then, various related theories and movements have waxed and waned, including socially responsible investing, extended stakeholder management, total corporate responsibility, impact investing, and the triple bottom line, among others.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We also talked about how some big corporations are using concepts like corporate social responsibility and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) theory, less to apologize for prior bad behavior and more to secure a strategic advantage over their rivals. At CEI, we often write about the concept of “regulatory capture,” the economic process by which government rules end up being written more to benefit corporations than restrain them, as a result of lobbying and special-interest influence. We can see that when some of the biggest corporations in the world sign up to a new project that will supposedly force them to act against their own financial interests.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>We see this effect all the time, including in areas like antitrust.</b> My colleague Jessica Melugin&nbsp;<a href="https://cei.org/studies/u-s-antitrusts-greatest-misses/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">wrote in January about</a>&nbsp;how regulatory capture worked historically in the context of the state-sanctioned AT&T telephone monopoly and the Federal Communications Commission, and our friend Alex Stapp tweeted just today about&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AlecStapp/status/1370408612019965954" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">how it’s working now</a>&nbsp;in the context of Microsoft, Google, and Facebook. The world of ESG rules is no different, and companies can be expected to manipulate the regulations we will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/12/team-biden-full-steam-ahead-on-politicized-investing/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">likely see in the near future</a>&nbsp;to their own advantage.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But does all of this need to be fought out in the realm of government mandates at all? I posed this question as part of the event, and there seemed to be some light at the end of the tunnel. As I&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/esg-private-certification-should-proliferate/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">wrote for&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">National Review</em></a>&nbsp;in September of last year, private certification and voluntary governance models can provide the structure for ESG-type goals that their proponents assure us are so popular and important. If corporate American is really moving in this direction already, a flexible, decentralized framework should be just what the doctor ordered:</font></p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; border-left: 0.25em solid; padding-left: 1em;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">[ESG proponents] point out that corporate law and precedent in the U.S. generally requires boards of directors to manage their firms to maximize shareholder returns, meaning that adopting policies that are ethically desirable but not profit-maximizing could expose them to shareholder litigation</span><span style="background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);">. Fortunately, it is possible for those business owners and managers who are afraid of being sued for doing too much good to incorporate in most states (including business incorporation fan-favorite Delaware) as a “<b>benefit corporation</b>,” the structure of which explicitly lifts the expectation of shareholder primacy from its directors.</span></font></p></blockquote><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px; border-left: 0.25em solid; padding-left: 1em; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If any change is necessary, it will be in the creation of additional, competing certification bodies. Many investors and managers concerned about ESG issues support the socially liberal B Lab, but there are also many people of goodwill who don’t embrace the same ethical framework and priorities. Why not have a socially responsible business-certification entity informed by the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church? Or perhaps one based on the Adam Smith Society, which has chapters at business schools across the country?</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.01) 0px 0px 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);">For more on what policy makers are saying about the future of ESG and corporate governance, see the&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">recent Federalist Society&nbsp;<a href="https://fedsoc.org/events/law-and-corporate-social-responsibility" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">event</a>&nbsp;(and&nbsp;<a href="https://cei.org/blog/federalist-society-and-secs-roisman-on-future-of-esg-corporate-governance/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: color 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">my writeup of it</a>)&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243);">with Securities and Exchange Commission member Elad Roisman, former commissioner Paul Atkins, and former Delaware Supreme Court chief justice Myron T. Steele.</span></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
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</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Followers 8,606,181 Annual Revenue $3.69 million13</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Facebook 5,267,281 Monthly Visits 49.9 million</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instagram 1,479,900 Google Ads Yes</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter 1,510,000 Others ads RevContent</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">YouTube 349,000 Facebook Ads No14</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Breitbart News was once described as a “platform for the alt-right” by its former chairman, the ex-Trump adviser</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steve Bannon.”15</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Launched in 2007, the site has long published false and misleading claims about women and minority groups as</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">well as conspiracy theories about Barack Obama’s status as a US citizen.&nbsp;<b>Breitbart’s writers are, according to NBC:</b></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“nationalistic, often linking immigrants and refugees with violence and the degradation of Western values.”</b>16</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The site regularly publishes climate change denial, with<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;US contributor John Nolte and Breitbart London’s executive</span></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">editor James Delingpole both having repeatedly referred to climate change as a “hoax” pushed by so-called “climate</font></span></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">alarmists”.</span>17</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2011, the family of hedge fund billionaire and Republican donor Robert Mercer purchased nearly half of Breitbart</font></span></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for $10 million.18 Mercer has a record of funding groups that challenge the scientific consensus on climate change,</font></span></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">such as the Heartland Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Media Research Center, a member of the Toxic Ten.</font></span></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2016 alone, Mercer is reported to have given nearly $4 million to such groups</span>.19 He also co-founded and invested</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in Cambridge Analytica, which came under fire for collecting the data of up to 87 million Facebook users.20</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This Breitbart article in our sample stokes fears of pro-climate policies.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It promotes a conspiracy theory about “the leftist connections between</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ostensibly public-health-related lockdown decrees, th<b>e Great Reset,</b></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and ‘climate change’ advocacy”.21<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Google ads for a conference on</span></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“environmental, social and governance (ESG)” issues for energy</font></span></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">companies were being promoted next to the article</span>.22</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Woke Companies Must Wake Up on ESG</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Paul Driessen</b>Paul Driessen|Posted: Sep 04, 2021&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Growing numbers of companies, banks, universities and investment houses are adopting Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards and disclosure rules. They’re pressured to do so by activists, legislators and regulators. Many expect to get rich via taxpayer-subsidized “renewable” energy projects.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nearly all hope to “greenwash” their reputations, by claiming they’ll “make the world a better place,” by reducing fossil fuel emissions, and thus planetary temperatures and extreme weather events.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">They recently got a boost from the US House of Representatives. It voted 215-214 party-line to pass a bill supporting Securities and Exchange Commission plans to impose new ESG rules requiring publicly traded companies to disclose “climate risks” caused by oil, gas and coal production and use. Some think ESG climate claims and misconduct could receive greater SEC scrutiny, though that seems unlikely.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Woke organizations need to wake up to climate, ESG and renewable energy realities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The ever-more-hysterical climate and weather claims have been roundly debunked by Dr. Roy Spencer, Gregory Wrightstone, Marc Morano, Steven Koonin and others.</b> But what’s truly outrageous about ESG is the way it studiously <b>ignores the massive, widespread damage inflicted by pseudo-renewable energy.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wind and sunlight certainly are clean, renewable and sustainable. But harnessing their highly dispersed, unpredictable, weather-dependent energy to meet humanity’s huge and growing energy needs absolutely is not.That requires lands and raw materials that are anything but renewable– using fuels and processes that are absolutely not clean, green, ecological or sustainable. Because they fail to recognize this, ESG programs are dishonest, even fraudulent – and must be reformed or scrapped.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wind, solar and battery land and raw material requirements are astronomical. Onshore wind turbines require nine times more metals and minerals per megawatt than a modern combined-cycle gas power plant. One onshore 3-MW turbine foundation needs 600 cubic yards (1,500 tons) of concrete, plus rebar.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Offshore wind requires 14 times more materials per MW. </b>Just the 2,100 850-foot-tall offshore turbines (30,000 megawatts) that President Biden wants to install by 2030 would require110,000 tons of copper, plus millions of tons of steel, aluminum, fiberglass, cobalt, rare earth metals and other materials.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At an average of 0.44% copper in ore deposits worldwide, the copper alone would require mining and processing25 million tons of ore, after removing 40 million tons of overburden to reach the ore bodies!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Add in materials for solar panels, more onshore and offshore wind turbines, backup battery systems, electric vehicles, transmission lines, and all-electric home heating and cooking systems – to run the entire USA, Europe and world – and the “green energy transformation” would require hundreds of billions of tons of metals, minerals and plastics, trillions of tons of ores, trillions of tons of overburden, and thousands of mines, processing plants and factories. Nearly all these operations employ fossil fuels.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>America’s laws and attitudes make mining in the United States nearly impossible, </b>even to support ESG-certified “green” energy facilities. That means most mining and processing will be done in Africa, Asia and Latin America, increasingly by Chinese companies. The manufacturing is done increasingly in China, which is why that country is building more coal-fired power plants every month.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pseudo-clean-energy activities utilize hazardous chemicals and release toxic pollutants. They require vast volumes of water, often in the world’s most water-deprived regions. They cause acid mine drainage, create mountains of waste rock, and often result in vast “lakes” of toxic chemicals from refining the ores. Most are conducted under almost nonexistent pollution control, mined-land reclamation, endangered species, workplace safety, child and slave labor, and fair wage rules.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Cobalt mining already involves 40,000 African children,</b> as young as four! Many Chinese solar panels are made with Uighur forced labor. ESG “green” aspirations would multiply this slavery many times over.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These travesties occur overseas – out of sight and out of mind – letting ESG activists and profiteers make incessant false claims that fossil fuel replacement energy is clean and virtuous. But when wind, solar and battery facilities are installed, adverse consequences will reverberate across the United States.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hundreds of millions of acres of scenic, wildlife habitat and coastal areas would be impacted; millions of birds, bats, tortoises and other wildlife displaced, maimed and killed. And when their short productive lives are finished, billions of turbine blades, solar panels and batteries will be sent to gigantic landfills, because they cannot be recycled; their toxic metals and chemicals could leach out into soils, streams and groundwater. The same will happen in Europe, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even on windy days, Mr. Biden’s 2,100 monstrous offshore turbines won’t meet New York State peak summertime electricity needs. Meeting just US coastal city needs would require tens of thousands of turbines. Dredge-and-fill operations associated with installing them would smother mollusks and other benthic species. Vibration noises would harm whale and porpoise navigation and communication. Their mere presence would create major safety issues for aircraft and fishing, naval and commercial vessels.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A single industrial solar facility near Fredericksburg, Virginia required clearcutting thousands of acres of forest habitat. Solar installations proposed for the American Southwest would blanket millions of acres of desert habitats. Dominion Energy is planning solar facilities on Virginia acreage totaling one-fourth of Delaware. Wind and solar operations would threaten or eradicate dozens of bird and other species that environmentalists have utilized for decades to stop drilling, fracking and pipeline projects.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Connecting far-flung wind, solar and battery installations to industrial centers and urban areas would require thousands of miles of new transmission lines – and still more steel, copper and concrete. Battery fires have already destroyed electric vehicles and homes. Imagine huge warehouses filled with thousands of battery modules erupting into enormous, uncontrollable conflagrations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Biodiesel projects have already destroyed important orangutan habitats, and thousands of acres of US hardwood forests have been turned into wood pellets for Britain’s Drax Power Plant.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Threatened, endangered, migratory and marine species must be protected –wherever mining, processing and manufacturing take place, and wherever “renewable” energy installations are contemplated. Human health impacts from infrasound and light flicker must guide decisions on how close to homes and businesses wind turbines may be installed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Reformed ESG rules – call them Environment and Human Rights (EHR) principles –</b> must require that all these issues are addressed for every wind, solar, battery, transmission and biofuel proposal.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People must know in advance how many turbines, panels, batteries and power lines are contemplated; how many tons of metals, minerals, concrete and plastics they will require; where those materials will come from; under what environmental, pollution, safety, wage and child labor standards. Companies and government agencies must certify that supply chains are free from child or slave labor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Project-specific, comprehensive and cumulative US and global environmental studies must be conducted before any projects are approved, and must include regular, independent reviews of bird, bat, reptile, whale, porpoise and other wildlife displacements, injuries and deaths. Project studies must fully assess all environmental, human health, human rights and other impacts worldwide, and must not be fast-tracked.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These reality-based EHR principles will help ensure that any “green future” is founded on ethical standards that address all human and ecological consequences, and actually do make the world a better place. They can also help guide SEC investigations and prosecutions for ESG misconduct and fraud – and help spur much-needed mining in the United States, to reduce our reliance on China, Russia, Taliban Afghanistan and other adversarial countries for critical and strategic minerals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">endit1</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div></div></div>