This week in responsible investing, Project 2025 and Texas’s anti-ESG law SB13 came under fire for their negative impact on taxpayers, pension funds, and investors. In Texas, a business group sued to block the law. Nationally, an anti-ESG group has come under fire for allegedly violating the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pay-to-play rule. That and more below:
The American Sustainable Business Council sued to block Texas’ anti-responsible investing law, adding to the litany of issues with the law.
From UAF’s roundup: Last week the American Sustainable Business Council sued to block Texas anti-ESG law SB13, which forces public entities to divest from financial institutions that practice responsible investing. The law is estimated to have cost the state nearly $700 million in lost economic activity and 3,000 lost full-time jobs since it went into effect in 2021.
A watchdog group alleges the anti-ESG group State Financial Officers Foundation may be engaging in a pay-to-play scheme, violating a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule.
From UAF’s ICYMI: A government watchdog, Campaign for Accountability, has called on the Biden administration to investigate the right-wing State Financial Officers Foundation for violating the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s pay-to-play rule…The State Financial Officers Foundation has deep ties to right wing judicial activist Leonard Leo and Koch Industries, and primarily exists to attack ESG investing in the states at the behest of its wealthy backers. You can read more about SFOF here.
Project 2025 could hike electricity prices by $32 billion and erase over 1.7 million jobs.
From In These Times: Under the current set of policies designed to hit the Paris Agreement targets, Americans would save more than $110 billion in energy bills across all households by 2050, the Energy Innovation study said. In stark contrast, the [Center for American Progress] says consumers’ energy costs under Project 2025 would increase by more than $24 billion over the same period.
Corporate Knights cited UAF’s research on Project 2025 in an analysis.
From Corporate Knights: The conservative policy document Project 2025 is a blueprint for how a Republican administration and Congress would dismantle sustainable investing, says Kyle Herrig, spokesperson for the ESG advocacy group Unlocking America’s Future. “The ESG section of Project 2025 will create severe, long-lasting damage to our economy and environment,” he said in a recent statement releasing a report analyzing the document’s recommendations on sustainable finance.
Read more:
- WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: Business Group’s Lawsuit Claims Texas SB13 To Be Unconstitutional, Adding to Litany of Financial Consequences and Issues With the Law
- In These Times: Project 2025 Could Erase More Than 1.7 Million Jobs and Hike Electricity Prices By $32 Billion
- Corporate Knights: What will the U.S. election mean for sustainable finance?
- ICYMI: Anti-Responsible Investing Group State Financial Officers Foundation Under Fire for Alleged Pay-to-Play Scheme
