Adam Tooze: What Is ESG Investing and Why the Sudden Backlash?
Some Republicans are calling it “woke capitalism.”
About $139 billion flowed last year, through September, into ESG investment funds—that is, funds that invest according to various environmental, social, and governance criteria, like lower carbon emissions. It’s become a booming global business in recent years—and a controversial one, at least in the United States. Republican officials have accused ESG investment funds of “woke capitalism”—of unfairly hurting businesses in favor of an extraneous political agenda. Last week, Republicans in Congress voted to block a Labor Department rule that would allow retirement plan managers to incorporate ESG criteria into their investment decisions. Similar laws have been passed in Republican-controlled states across the country, to the consternation of liberals—and investors.
Cameron Abadi is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @CameronAbadi
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