withdraw more than $8 billion worth of investments from the multinational investment company Blackrock
can be traced back to a 2022 state “anti-woke” law against “ESG Investment.” Until a few years ago, this acronym was an esoteric label. It has now become a rallying cry for many Republicans who have conflated “Environment, Social and Governance” with a Liberal “Awakening” - henceIn particular, the marginalization of fossil fuel companies by investment houses like Blackrock has been at the heart of this strident move against “ESG.
So what has happened to cause this sudden revulsion to environmentalism among Republicans? The simple answer is that climate change has become the touchstone of twenty-first century environmentalism in such a consequential way that most other environmental issues have been eclipsed by its prominence. This is a pity because important efforts like “ESG” which expanded the purview of environmental health and safety to also include community development are now being dismissed.
industry diversify should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat, as exemplified by recent statements from British Petroleum .steady deterioration of quality of life in the absence of ESG pressure on companies. Labeling ESG as “Woke” to conflate it with social activism on more personal “belief” issues is a major disservice to predominantly Republican constituents in these areas. At the same time, environmentalists need to decouple climate activism from broader ESG goals. While ideally, we should have an earth systems approach to considering all such issues together, decoupling is needed for pragmatic reasons to ensure environmentally responsible investing on other matters.