The pushback against ESG, or corporate environmental, social, and governance policies is fully on — and it’s working.
CFACT and our allies are working to poke, prod, and shame companies into backing away from destructive policies of appeasement of leftwing climate and social pressure groups.
Greg Neff spearheaded CFACT’s efforts to make full use of the spring shareholder meeting season for publicly traded companies to put corporate CEOs on the spot.
Greg publicly asked JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon about his megabank’s involvement with the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. Agriculture officials from at least 11 states have said that ideologically blinkered net zero policies will lead to food shortages and huge price increases for consumers. “Is it wise for this board to step outside its expertise and make commitments to push forward the NZBA’s extreme agenda?” Greg asked.
Greg asked the CEO of State Street, another megabank, his first question of the day, “State Street was wise to pull out of Climate Action 100+. Can we now expect to see the company also start backing more viable energy sources like oil, gas, and nuclear as opposed to costly and unreliable solar and wind?”
Greg asked the CEO of Ford, “Despite the CEO’s assurances that the next generation of EVs will be profitable, the fact is Ford’s EV Unit lost $1.3 Billion in the first quarter of 2024. How is this not putting good money after bad when the American people have clearly shown that most have no interest in transitioning to electric?”
Greg asked the CEO of GM, “Global Cadillac Vice President John Roth recently announced that the company was no longer pursuing a goal of eliminating the production of internal combustion engines by 2030. This is great news for many motorists who are not excited by electric vehicles. But is this about-face just a temporary thing, or will GM continue to resist the political pressure to impose electric vehicles on an unwilling public?”
Greg asked the CEO of Blackrock, “Barrons reported that in 2023, investors pulled more than $13 billion from US sustainable funds, and BlackRock saw a 12% reduction in gains compared to 2021 in this area. Is seeking to become a global leader via a sinking investment strategy that’s on a downward trend a wise idea?”
Greg asked the CEO of Citibank, “In light of bank failures such as Silicon Valley Bank that prioritized ‘climate and sustainability’, shouldn’t Citigroup consider scaling back or eliminating its ‘$1 Trillion Sustainable Finance Goal’ in order to better protect its shareholders?”
This is important work, and companies are listening. Often, companies start by dodging, for instance, by dropping terms such as ESG while keeping the negative policies in place. However, increasingly, companies are making substantive changes and bringing their policies more in line with good sense, reality, and the interests of their shareholders and customers.
CFACT is working to ensure that we can wave goodbye to peak leftism in our rearview mirrors.