Sustainability Magazine featured Unlocking America’s Future’s work to push back against anti-sustainable investing measures in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill. As UAF spokesperson Kyle Herrig told the magazine:
“At least eight states have anti-ESG bills in their legislatures that carried over from 2023 to 2024: Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Carolina and more 2024 bills are expected in other states as well.”
These attacks on responsible investing hurt everyday Americans, resulting in billions of dollars of losses from pensions and harm to local economies.
- The Kansas State Division of the Budget projected reduced returns of $3.6 billion over 10 years for the Kansas Public Retirement System if anti-ESG investment restrictions were adopted.
- The Arkansas Public Employees Retirement System estimated that they could lose $30 million to $40 million per year due to an anti-ESG bill that would require the State Treasurer and public entities to divest assets from certain institutions that use ESG-related metrics. The Arkansas Teacher Retirement System estimated that the system could lose an additional $7 million or more per year as a result of the legislation.
- An analysis by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that Texas municipalities will be paying $300 million to $500 million in additional interest because of the state’s anti-ESG law – and that’s just on the $31.8 billion borrowed in the first eight months after the law went into effect.
- An analysis by the economics consulting firm ESI for the Sunrise Project found that taxpayers in six states — Kentucky, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Missouri — could be on the hook for up to $700 million in excess interest payments if restrictions on sustainable investing are implemented.
The article continues:
“‘Not only are attacks on responsible investing deeply unpopular, these attacks hurt working families, are bad for business, and threaten the environment,’ he says. Herrig cites the example of Texas, a state that prides itself on its low taxes and business-friendly environment. He says since the state took an aggressive stance against responsible investing, their reputation has taken a hit and it is now being labeled ‘bad for business’ by J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.”
To read the full article, click HERE.
