SPOTLIGHT

McDonald’s Corp. has removed the term “ESG” from parts of its website, coinciding with Republican criticism of environmental, social, and governance initiatives. At the same time, concerns over the clarity and consistency of ESG scoring have led Norway’s sovereign wealth fund to support an EU Commission proposal to overhaul the ESG system. 

This trend of institutions distancing themselves from ESG and its metrics presents both an opportunity and a threat. ESG’s demise could usher in a more robust sustainability reporting framework, or it could leave the market without a meaningful system of measuring outcomes other than pure profits in a way that thwarts real progress on climate action. It’s up to corporate leaders to ensure that ESG’s future is truly actionable and transparent. 

NEWS

• Ad Age: McDonald’s quietly removes ‘ESG’ from parts of its website 
• AP News: Unprecedented levels of damage from storms this year is upending US towns and the insurance industry 
• Axios: Climate change’s multi-level sticker shock | Corporate America is rebranding ESG 
• BBC: ‘Who will buy my house if they can’t get insurance’ 
• Bloomberg: McDonald’s (MCD) Removes ESG Abbreviation From Some Parts of Its Website | Bankers Hate Saying ‘ESG’ But Are Hardwiring It Into Their Work | Norway’s $1.4 Trillion Wealth Fund Wants ESG Ratings Overhauled | Funds Hoarding Alternative Assets Face ‘Very High’ ESG Risk | Market Is Mispricing Impact of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, Goldman Says 
• Bloomberg Law: ESG Investing Laws Diverge in Red and Blue States: Explained 
• ETF Trends: “Anti-ESG” Manager Strive Launches Fixed Income ETFs 
• EXPOSEDbyCMD: Anti-Woke and Fossil Fuel Industry Operatives Dominate ALEC’s Energy Task Force
• Financial Times: European insurers say US backlash has damaged climate change push
• Forbes: ‘One Of The Grave Threats To Liberty Today’: Vivek Ramaswamy Sounds The Alarm On ESG Policies 
• Fortune: ESG investing is still largely smoke and mirrors, but not for BlackRock 
• Glossy: Right wing’s ‘go woke, go broke’ agenda fails to dent beauty’s bottom line 
• Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: Republicans Reintroduce House Bill to Limit ESG Considerations in Retirement Investing 
• The Hill: Vivek Ramaswamy says US ‘climate change agenda’ is a ‘hoax’
• Insurance Business: AIG Women’s Open disrupted by protest
• Insurance Journal: Zurich Insurance CEO Criticizes Climate Alliances After Exodus 
• The New York Times: Maui Fires Come at a Moment of Turmoil for the Insurance Industry
• Pensions & Investments: ESG suit ‘wasting’ court’s time, 3 NYC pension funds say | S&P’s decision to drop ESG ratings garners mixed reactions from industry
• Reuters: Top trade group mounts legal challenge against Missouri after ESG backlash | Wildfires to cause second-largest total insured loss in Hawaii’s history | As ‘anti-woke’ lawsuits ramp up, should companies boost risk disclosure? | US loss of AAA badge a reminder of ‘regime shift’ for government debt
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Jay Ashcroft is sued over Missouri’s new ‘anti-woke’ investment rules 
• Tampa Bay Times: Soaring home insurance costs are pushing these families out of Florida 
• ValueWalk: Navigating The Storm: An Examination Of Anti-ESG Rhetoric And The Path Forward 
• The Wall Street Journal: Women Make Slow, Steady Gains on U.S. Corporate Boards — ESG Insight | Wildfires and Thunderstorms Are Throwing Insurance Market Into Turbulence 
• The Washington Post: How to protect your financial life from wildfires, extreme weather

OPINION

• Bloomberg: Republicans Wasted Their Summer Attacking DEI and ESG
• Financial Times: An ESG tirade little better than a straw man fallacy
• Forbes: Some Constructive Feedback To 23 Red States On Their Anti-ESG Campaigns 
• FT Adviser: ‘What Baillie Gifford’s spat with Greta Thunberg tell us about ESG’s future’ 
• The Kansas City Star: Keep ‘politics’ out of Kansas state retirements? That’s impossible — and lousy advice
• Reuters: As ‘anti-woke’ lawsuits ramp up, should companies boost risk disclosure? 

OPPOSITION

• The Black Chronicle: S&P Global says sayonara to ESG scores – sort of
• New York Post: Skittles blasted over new pro-LGBTQ packaging: ‘Time to Bud Light them’ 
• Washington Examiner: Ramaswamy says US climate agenda is a ‘hoax’ and ESG policies pose ‘grave threat’ to liberty | Don’t fall for the ploy: BlackRock is still working to undermine American energy 
• The Washington Times: S&P Global drops ESG scores amid political backlash, investor confusion

SOCIAL

• Ryan Walker shared a thread: Even S&P is only dropping the score aspect of its ESG efforts. S&P will continue to provide “holistic” ESG analysis reports—despite acknowledging that findings about the effectiveness of ESG investments are “largely mixed.”
• The State Financial Officers Foundation tweeted: We’re lovin’ it! Shining light on the #ESGscam is causing everyone to back away from ‘ESG’ even @McDonalds — fiduciary duty to shareholders rules. Dropping the letters from the website is good, but but dropping boardroom activism is where it counts.

DATES

• August 23-25: Global Research Alliance on Sustainable Finance and Investment 2023 Annual Conference. Register here. 
• August 24-26: The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City 2023 Economic Policy Symposium “Structural Shifts in the Global Economy.” 
• September 17-24: Climate Group Climate Week NYC. View list of events here. 
• September 20: UN Climate Ambition Summit.