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‘Enforcement 40’ for 2020
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Join the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group on LinkedInGOP treasurers withdraw $1B from BlackRock over ESG investments
The world’s largest asset manager is facing $1 billion in withdrawals from Republican state treasurers because of the financial giant’s investment priorities, according to published reports. BlackRock, which manages $8.5 trillion, has come under fire for its aggressive push on so-called ESG investments that promote environmental, social and governance issues. The outrage has led multiple […]
Vivek Ramaswamy: the self-styled scourge of ‘woke’ boardrooms | Financial Times
Ramaswamy last week wrote public letters to Apple telling it to halt plans for a racial equity audit and to Disney insisting that the company stop “speaking out on political issues that do not affect its business” such as gay rights. He also said he met recently with Chevron’s chief financial officer to lay out […]
ESG Threat Goes Beyond BlackRock – WSJ
This process is already happening in Europe and the U.K. The Securities and Exchange Commission is following suit by proposing new rules that would require public companies to provide detailed reporting of their climate-related risks, emissions and net-zero transition plans. This is the tomorrow war that the ESG opposition needs to start waging today, rather […]
Companies That Really Want to Do Some Good Should Unbundle ‘ESG’ and ‘DEI’ – Bloomberg
Both ESG and DEI have generated massive industries. Investment giants, notably BlackRock Inc., State Street Corp. and Vanguard Group Inc., claim that more than a third of their assets, or $35 trillion, are monitored through one ESG lens or other. Every Fortune 100 company and most Fortune 500 companies have adopted DEI programs. Walmart has […]
Evangelical Investor’s $2 Billion Fund for Faith-Based Stocks – Bloomberg
It’s a good day on Wall Street, high temple of Mammon, when Robert Netzly proclaims the power of God. At 4 p.m. New York time, 2 p.m. here in Idaho, Netzly takes a break after the market close, gathers his analysts and sales reps and turns to the Book of Romans. He’s been praying on […]
‘Dilbert’ Becomes the Voice of the ESG Opponents: Green Insight – Bloomberg
Even the creator of the “Dilbert” cartoon is taking potshots at an investment strategy that focuses on risks tied to the environment, social and corporate governance. In a series of illustrations published last week, author Scott Adams criticized ESG, comparing it to a “colicky” baby with “firehouse diarrhea.” Adams is known for his strong opinions, […]
Cracking Down on a Wall Street Trend: E.S.G. Makeovers – The New York Times
It’s the Wall Street version of a truth-in-advertising crackdown, and it’s a focal point for a special E.S.G. enforcement task force set up last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The task force is essentially looking for instances of banks and money managers engaging in “greenwashing” — using misleading claims to make their investment […]
The SEC Can’t Transform Itself Into a Climate-Change Enforcer – WSJ
The SEC’s regulation is of a piece with those the court has struck down. We warned in a June 16 comment letter to the agency that Congress never assigned the SEC the task of overseeing environmental concerns. Yet that’s exactly what it sets out to do in its climate rule. As GOP-appointed SEC Commissioner Hester […]
ESG Does Neither Much Good nor Very Well – WSJ
The implicit promise of ESG investing is that you can do well and do good at the same time. Investors presume they can make a market return while advancing causes such as lowering carbon emissions and income inequality. But multiple studies find ESG strategies are doing little of either. Bradford Cornell of the University of […]
ESG Can’t Square With Fiduciary Duty – WSJ
Second, both Mr. Landry’s and Mr. Rokita’s letters are warnings to public pension-plan trustees, who are under the same fiduciary duties that BlackRock is. Mr. Rokita’s opinion concludes that public pension boards are “prohibited” from retaining asset managers who “make investments, set investment strategies, engage with portfolio companies, or exercise voting rights appurtenant to investments […]