The oil and gas industry has spent $3 billion lobbying politicians to push their agenda and now to ban responsible investing, the strategy of considering environmental factors, such as climate risks or the riskiness of investing in fossil fuels, when making investment decisions (also known as ESG investing). Why? To line the pockets of billionaires at the expense of everyday Americans.
Across America, dark-money interests funded by Big Oil are advocating for policies that restrict the freedom of investors, small businesses, and pension fund managers to choose where their money goes. They don’t care that a majority of Americans across party lines support responsible investing and are worried that “supporters of ESG bans do not care about the well-being of the middle class or American workers.” They don’t care that 85% of American companies see sustainability as a profitable value creation opportunity. All they care about is enforcing fossil fuel mandates.
But these attacks against responsible investing harm the economy and endanger the financial well-being of everyday Americans, especially in the form of higher taxes and lower returns on retirement savings. What’s worse, while Big Oil’s profits go up, so do the costs at the gas station pump.
We can’t let Big Oil’s lobbying machine hijack America. Our environment and financial future depend on it.
- After taking more than $9.2 million in lifetime campaign contributions from oil, gas, and other extractive industries, 22 state attorneys general signed onto lawsuits attempting to kill a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule requiring publicly traded companies to disclose information about greenhouse gas emissions.
- Consumers’ Research, backed by rightwing activist Leonard Leo who has connections to big oil, is spearheading a well coordinated campaign to stop ESG and attack companies for being “woke.” Consumers’ Research also recently launched a new initiative inaccurately suggesting that “ESG kills farms.”
- Oil and gas interests are behind the Texas law–one of the most extreme anti-ESG laws in the country–that bans the state from doing business with financial institutions that have divested from the fossil fuel industry. According to a study by Wharton Business School, the law will cost Texas taxpayers $416 million annually.
- Over the past 25 years, oil and gas disasters are estimated to have cost upward of $65 billion in clean up costs.
