Biden Issues First Veto to Protect Socially Conscious Investing

Republicans think that investors should not be able to select securities which prioritize social factors over financial ones.

"Republicans think that investors should not be able to select securities which consider social factors."

Seems minor, but it's a rather important distinction. Sure, there definitely are ESGs that make more than token efforts to rule out investing in things like child labor or unsafe work conditions (it's not as big a given as you'd think)...

...but a rather large part of the biggest ESGs is genuinely about managing risk and optimizing profit. There's a REASON the oil companies are rapidly diversifying and expanding into green technologies themselves... it's not because things are looking up for oil.

...and that's not even taking in the fact that these companies largely play on a global level and it's not exactly unprecedented for the EU to slap legitimately hefty fines on...well... exactly the kind of companies that ESGs tend to avoid.

/r/democrats Thread Parent Link - nytimes.com