The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) will meet this week at the Republican National Convention to scheme its next wave of attacks against corporate ESG efforts and responsible investing, according to reports from POLITICO. SFOF is a private organization that pushes Republican State Treasurers to adopt anti-responsible investing policies.
Despite polling that shows Americans across party lines overwhelmingly support responsible investing, SFOF has doubled down its attacks on the practice.
SFOF most recently announced the formation of a new 501(c)(4), SFOF Action, ramping up ongoing efforts to systematically ban responsible investing and maintain its stronghold over state financial officer positions across the country. The move is one of several steps SFOF has taken to thwart progress on responsible investing in recent years. Known for using its “power to promote oil and gas interests,” SFOF has deep ties to rightwing judicial activist Leonard Leo and his anti-responsible investing group Consumers Research.
From POLITICO Long Game:
- Republican state financial officers will meet this week on the sidelines of the RNC to discuss ways to push back against environmental, social and governance policies. A Trump win could lead to a rollback of U.S. Department of Labor ESG measures adopted under Biden, which have survived a Congressional Review Act challenge and are now facing legal tests in one of the first high-profile cases to be impacted by the Supreme Court decision revoking the Chevron doctrine.
- “What we’re seeing here is a microcosm of what we’ll see elsewhere,” said Craig Leen, a K&L Gates partner and former director of Labor’s federal contract compliance programs office, who said the department’s ESG rule is “certainly” in jeopardy after the Chevron ruling.
From POLITICO Morning Money:
- Financial officers have an especially important role to play in ensuring politics are never prioritized over profits when it comes to Americans’ hard-earned retirement and pension dollars,” SFOF CEO Derek Kreifels told POLITICO in a statement. “The State Financial Officers Foundation and our members are engaged with policymakers at all levels helping to educate them on the dangers of ESG and all efforts that run counter to fiduciary duty.”
- Kreifels wouldn’t share details of who would be attending the event. But it shows how efforts to oppose corporate environmental, social and governance principles are still alive within national GOP circles despite its lack of resonance with both the general electorate and Republican voters in particular.
