Report: Business, Labor, Environmental Advocates Stall Right-Wing Attack on Freedom to Invest Responsibly

WASHINGTON, DC—Today Pleiades Strategy, a strategic research and advisory firm, released a first-of-its-kind report chronicling the coordinated legislative effort by Republican legislatures to restrict the use of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment criteria.

• Read the report here
• See a comprehensive bill tracker map here

The report found that despite the growing anti-ESG rhetoric, partisan legislative efforts have failed to gain widespread support, even in Republican-led states, because they would come at an enormous cost to taxpayers, businesses and financial institutions, pensioners, and state economies. 

“The dark-money funded attacks on the freedom to invest responsibly hit deep opposition from business, labor, and environmental advocates in statehouses across the country this year,” said Frances Sawyer, founder of Pleiades Strategy and co-author of the report. “Our report shows that the effort to weaponize government funds, contracts, and pensions to prevent companies and investors from considering real financial risks is not a winning platform. Even the few bills that did pass, most of which were weakened before becoming law, will inevitably cost state residents hundreds of millions of dollars and threaten to put businesses and communities across the country in harm’s way.”

The bills tracked in this report include 165 anti-ESG bills and 9 resolutions introduced in 37 states. These bills sought to restrict insurers, lending institutions, pension fund managers, and asset managers from evaluating specific common-sense risk factors, such as a company’s safety record, the way it treats its workforce, or its readiness to face climate disasters.

The overwhelming majority of these bills that were tracked in this report failed, including all bills introduced in ten states with Republican trifectas. 

“This is not about ESG. It’s a coordinated campaign by special interests to restrain how companies and the public can invest their money. It is bound to fail retirees and state residents whose money is being wasted on the culture war,” said report author Connor Gibson. “The fight has created a powerful resistance of business, labor, investors, libertarians, and progressives. These are not people who regularly see eye-to-eye. Nobody but the proponents of these bills think it is a good idea to sink state economies to protect a handful of volatile industries.”

Key findings from the report include:

• Despite all the hype, the vast majority of anti-ESG bills failed to progress through legislative chambers. No bills passed in 17 states, including in ten states fully controlled by Republicans. 
• The 22 bills that did pass will cost state residents and drain public coffers. 
• These bills faced opposition from the public, the business community, labor representatives, and even Republican officials and staunch conservatives. 
• Damning cost estimates shared in testimony and legislative fiscal notes showed how the bills would drive up the costs of borrowing and decrease public pension returns.
• The anti-ESG push is a coordinated, top-down campaign waged by right-wing dark money organizations, many of which are connected to oil and gas industry affiliates.

More detail about this nationwide campaign against responsible investing can be found in the new report, in Pleiades Strategy’s comprehensive bill tracker map, and this spreadsheet. 

###