Majority of Americans Across Party Lines Support Responsible Investing
Washington, D.C. – President Donald Trump’s nominee for Vice President solidifies his presidential ticket as squarely anti-ESG and pro Big Oil billionaires. In the less than two years U.S. Senator J.D.Vance (R-OH) has held office, he has emerged as a leading figure on Capitol Hill in the broader movement to dismantle responsible investing, meanwhile propping up his wealthy donors from the oil and gas industry.
“Former President Trump’s move to nominate Senator Vance – a staunch opponent of responsible investing – is a clear signal that this ticket remains out of touch with the views of America’s voters,” said Kyle Herrig, spokesperson for Unlocking America’s Future. “Senator Vance has a long track record of sabotaging efforts to support responsible investing while taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from billionaires from the oil and gas industry. He has subsequently championed anti-ESG legislation and has not hesitated to use his platform to espouse misinformation around the importance of sustainable business practices and climate change. The majority of Americans support responsible investing and do not agree with politicians’ efforts to thwart its progress, period.”
After taking nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions from Big Oil during his 2022 Senate campaign, Sen. Vance promptly acted in the interests of his wealthy donors when he assumed office.
- Prior to his Big Oil campaign contributions, Vance was somewhat of a climate advocate, having publicly admitted in 2020 that “we of course have a climate problem in our society” and that developments in solar energy have made the “biggest improvement in emissions.”
- In February 2023, Sen. Vance co-sponsored the Protect Farmers from the SEC Act, legislation that exploits American farmers to block the SEC’s climate risk disclosure rule, of which two-thirds of voters (80% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans) supported the proposed SEC rule and more than half of voters (52% of Republicans, 63% of Independents) opposed Congress putting limits on these kinds of disclosures.
- In August 2023, Sen. Vance penned an op-ed in Ohio’s Marietta Times that laid bare his pivot from evidence-based decision making to Big Oil talking points, arguing that “right now is the time to double down on the Ohio energy industry” and proposing new infrastructure for pipelines and refineries. While the oil and gas industry have seen record profits during President Biden’s term, Sen. Vance went on to say “the Biden years have thus far been defined by his administration’s wanton harassment of fossil fuel companies.”
- Sen. Vance is the co-founder of Narya Capital, which invested in failed presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy’s notoriously ‘anti-woke’ firm Strive Asset Management LLC. Ramaswamy, whose initial campaign slogan was “Stop Wokeism. Vote Vivek.,” dangerously compared financial companies like BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard to cartels.
- Most recently, Sen. Vance introduced The Dismantle DEI Act (S. 4516) in June 2024, legislation that aims to eliminate all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs – which is notably supported by The Heritage Foundation, an anti-ESG advocacy group that has taken over $8 million in donations from oil and gas interests, including Koch Industries and ExxonMobil.
Despite Sen. Vance’s efforts, executives at Fortune 500 companies and investors are moving forward with ESG policies and responsible investing – and Americans overwhelmingly back them.
- More than half of Fortune 500 CEOs say that focusing on climate change will “open up new markets” and nearly 60% of CEOs reported that by focusing on climate change they expect to “open up new markets.”
- Research continues to show that sustainable funds have comparable, if not better, financial returns to traditional funds with less downside risk, with nearly 80% of impact investors reporting that their financial performance meets or exceeds their targets.
- Companies with good ESG scores also tend to have higher returns. Studies show that, similar to global findings, “the relative performance by top-rated ESG companies was nearly 50% stronger than their lower-rated counterparts.”
- Most Americans support DEI-focused policies in their workplaces and factors like board gender diversity have been shown to improve returns for investors.
- Research has consistently shown that attacks on responsible investing endanger the financial well-being of everyday Americans, especially in the form of higher taxes and lower returns on retirement savings.
- Americans overwhelmingly and across party lines support standardized climate risk disclosures and responsible investing more broadly.
