Inaugural Edition: Transition Finance Weekly from Pleiades Strategy

June 14, 2024

Transition Finance Weekly

Exploring the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition

Welcome to Transition Finance Weekly — a new weekly newsletter from Pleiades Strategy. Each week, we’ll summarize the top stories and trends related to the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition in the states.


This is our first issue, and we want to hear from you. What would you like to see in this newsletter? What kinds of developments do you need us to track? You can reach us at newsletter@pleiadesstrategy.com.


If someone forwarded you this email, sign up here.

1. Hyundai’s Georgia EV Investment Will Reap Clean Energy Dividends And Create 14,500 Georgia Jobs

A year after its groundbreaking, Hyundai reports fast progress on their $7.6BN Savannah electric vehicle plant — spurred by Biden incentives — that will bring good-paying jobs and economic growth to Georgia.


“We’ve been talking about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America for my entire life,” said Princeton University clean-energy researcher Jesse Jenkins. “We’re finally doing it, right? That’s pretty exciting.”

2. Meanwhile, In Oklahoma, Power Customers Are Paying A Steep Surcharge For Unreliable Fossil Fuel Generation

Gas system failures during 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, which blanketed Oklahoma in bitter cold and killed more than a hundred people, have stuck the state’s residents with a $4.5 billion bill to cover what power companies spent — mostly on fossil fuels to cover surging demand.


OKC laundromat owner Ellen Graham will be paying $80 in combined monthly surcharges for decades. “The only thing I’ve ever financed for 30 years has been my house,” she said.

3. Anti-Woke Stock Exchange Launches In Texas, To Weak Corporate Response

BlackRock and Citadel are backing TXSE, a new Dallas-based stock exchange pitched to CEOs who want to bypass NYSE and NASDAQ fees and rules, including disclosure requirements and board diversity policies.

  • Texas Governor Greg Abbott claimed that the exchange would allow companies to avoid “policy decisions made from the left.” Meanwhile, Abbott’s anti-ESG bans have cost the state nearly $700M in lost economic output and 3,000 jobs.

  • The exchange’s leadership were not subtle in their situating the TXSE within ongoing culture wars, saying that the exchange aims to be “CEO-friendly,” which some took as a nod to controversial corporate leaders like Elon Musk.

  • Industry response has been skeptical.

4. Congressional Republicans Confuse Collusion, Collaboration, Convening, And Coordination

Another House hearing on “Decarbonization Collusion” continued the right-wing anti-ESG rhetorical push.

  • Background: House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and other Republicans at the state and Federal levels want to prohibit companies from considering risks like climate change in investment decisions, through legislation and executive action.

  • This week’s House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing was framed as an opportunity to “deter anti-competitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry.”

  • But the “anticompetitive” angle is bunk, as Committee Democrats explained this week in a report aptly titled “Unsustainable and Unoriginal: How the Republicans Borrowed a Bogus Antitrust Theory to Protect Big Oil.”

  • Committee Democrats apologized to the witnesses for the Majority’s harmful circus; Chair. Jordan (R-OH) repeatedly claimed that sustainable investing would somehow lead to a cap on hamburger consumption.

  • Anti-ESG policies — pushed by Big Oil and GOP dark money — pour state funds down the drain, kill jobs, and drag down returns for investors, including public pension funds. Business leaders are widely opposed, and court challenges are advancing.


“The weakness of Chairman Jordan’s case, combined with the broader landscape of right-wing attacks on ESG, leads us to conclude that the Majority launched this investigation with an improper purpose; namely, to impose a cost on investors and financial institutions that take seriously the threat of climate change and to chill legitimate business activity.” – House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff Report (Rep. Jerry Nadler, Ranking Member)

5. CO2 Levels Are Climbing Faster Than Ever, But Peak Oil Is Almost Here

Source: https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/GRAPH-June-2024-KeelingCurve-MLO-CO2-data.png


This year the UCSD Scripps Institute of Oceanography reported its highest atmospheric carbon dioxide readings ever. The May increase between 2022 and 2024 is the biggest two-year jump NOAA has ever recorded.

  • Short-term consequences: much more extreme weather, drought and flooding, ocean acidification and marine die-offs.

  • The International Energy Agency predicts global oil demand will level off permanently by the end of the decade, and then begin to drop due to the rapid adoption of renewable energy technologies and electrification. In a statement, IEA Director Fatih Birol told fossil fuel companies that it is time they make sure their business strategies and plans are prepared for the changes taking place.

  • Meanwhile, companies are already planning carefully for a world in which oil makes up a declining part of the global energy equation.

New Poll: Voters Want Politics Out of Their Business Decisions


New polling commissioned by the National Taxpayers Union and by Public Opinion Strategies shows:

  • Nearly 70% of voters oppose bills prohibiting companies with ESG policies from doing business with the state.

  • Nearly two-thirds said it’s “not OK” for state lawmakers to ban doing business with companies based on their climate-change or diversity stands.

  • Three-quarters said state governments shouldn’t punish companies for business decisions.

  • 92% said state lawmakers shouldn’t pursue personal agendas using taxpayer funds.
]]> Inaugural Edition: Transition Finance Weekly from Pleiades Strategy

June 14, 2024

Transition Finance Weekly

Exploring the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition

Welcome to Transition Finance Weekly — a new weekly newsletter from Pleiades Strategy. Each week, we’ll summarize the top stories and trends related to the policy, politics, and economics of the clean energy transition in the states.


This is our first issue, and we want to hear from you. What would you like to see in this newsletter? What kinds of developments do you need us to track? You can reach us at newsletter@pleiadesstrategy.com.


If someone forwarded you this email, sign up here.

1. Hyundai’s Georgia EV Investment Will Reap Clean Energy Dividends And Create 14,500 Georgia Jobs

A year after its groundbreaking, Hyundai reports fast progress on their $7.6BN Savannah electric vehicle plant — spurred by Biden incentives — that will bring good-paying jobs and economic growth to Georgia.


“We’ve been talking about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America for my entire life,” said Princeton University clean-energy researcher Jesse Jenkins. “We’re finally doing it, right? That’s pretty exciting.”

2. Meanwhile, In Oklahoma, Power Customers Are Paying A Steep Surcharge For Unreliable Fossil Fuel Generation

Gas system failures during 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, which blanketed Oklahoma in bitter cold and killed more than a hundred people, have stuck the state’s residents with a $4.5 billion bill to cover what power companies spent — mostly on fossil fuels to cover surging demand.


OKC laundromat owner Ellen Graham will be paying $80 in combined monthly surcharges for decades. “The only thing I’ve ever financed for 30 years has been my house,” she said.

3. Anti-Woke Stock Exchange Launches In Texas, To Weak Corporate Response

BlackRock and Citadel are backing TXSE, a new Dallas-based stock exchange pitched to CEOs who want to bypass NYSE and NASDAQ fees and rules, including disclosure requirements and board diversity policies.

  • Texas Governor Greg Abbott claimed that the exchange would allow companies to avoid “policy decisions made from the left.” Meanwhile, Abbott’s anti-ESG bans have cost the state nearly $700M in lost economic output and 3,000 jobs.

  • The exchange’s leadership were not subtle in their situating the TXSE within ongoing culture wars, saying that the exchange aims to be “CEO-friendly,” which some took as a nod to controversial corporate leaders like Elon Musk.

  • Industry response has been skeptical.

4. Congressional Republicans Confuse Collusion, Collaboration, Convening, And Coordination

Another House hearing on “Decarbonization Collusion” continued the right-wing anti-ESG rhetorical push.

  • Background: House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and other Republicans at the state and Federal levels want to prohibit companies from considering risks like climate change in investment decisions, through legislation and executive action.

  • This week’s House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing was framed as an opportunity to “deter anti-competitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry.”

  • But the “anticompetitive” angle is bunk, as Committee Democrats explained this week in a report aptly titled “Unsustainable and Unoriginal: How the Republicans Borrowed a Bogus Antitrust Theory to Protect Big Oil.”

  • Committee Democrats apologized to the witnesses for the Majority’s harmful circus; Chair. Jordan (R-OH) repeatedly claimed that sustainable investing would somehow lead to a cap on hamburger consumption.

  • Anti-ESG policies — pushed by Big Oil and GOP dark money — pour state funds down the drain, kill jobs, and drag down returns for investors, including public pension funds. Business leaders are widely opposed, and court challenges are advancing.


“The weakness of Chairman Jordan’s case, combined with the broader landscape of right-wing attacks on ESG, leads us to conclude that the Majority launched this investigation with an improper purpose; namely, to impose a cost on investors and financial institutions that take seriously the threat of climate change and to chill legitimate business activity.” – House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff Report (Rep. Jerry Nadler, Ranking Member)

5. CO2 Levels Are Climbing Faster Than Ever, But Peak Oil Is Almost Here

Source: https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/GRAPH-June-2024-KeelingCurve-MLO-CO2-data.png


This year the UCSD Scripps Institute of Oceanography reported its highest atmospheric carbon dioxide readings ever. The May increase between 2022 and 2024 is the biggest two-year jump NOAA has ever recorded.

  • Short-term consequences: much more extreme weather, drought and flooding, ocean acidification and marine die-offs.

  • The International Energy Agency predicts global oil demand will level off permanently by the end of the decade, and then begin to drop due to the rapid adoption of renewable energy technologies and electrification. In a statement, IEA Director Fatih Birol told fossil fuel companies that it is time they make sure their business strategies and plans are prepared for the changes taking place.

  • Meanwhile, companies are already planning carefully for a world in which oil makes up a declining part of the global energy equation.

New Poll: Voters Want Politics Out of Their Business Decisions


New polling commissioned by the National Taxpayers Union and by Public Opinion Strategies shows:

  • Nearly 70% of voters oppose bills prohibiting companies with ESG policies from doing business with the state.

  • Nearly two-thirds said it’s “not OK” for state lawmakers to ban doing business with companies based on their climate-change or diversity stands.

  • Three-quarters said state governments shouldn’t punish companies for business decisions.

  • 92% said state lawmakers shouldn’t pursue personal agendas using taxpayer funds.
]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2024 13:17:15 +0000 <![CDATA[New Research Analyzes 113 Anti-ESG Executive Actions Across 31 States]]> https://mailchi.mp/611711a25da6/pleiades-strategy-releases-live-anti-esg-state-bill-tracker-17971302 https://mailchi.mp/611711a25da6/pleiades-strategy-releases-live-anti-esg-state-bill-tracker-17971302 New Research Analyzes 113 Anti-ESG Executive Actions Across 31 States

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 8, 2024


CONTACT: TJ Helmstetter on behalf of Pleiades Strategy - tjhelm@gmail.com


Report shows Republican State Leaders Trying to Ban Responsible Business to Undermine the Energy Transition and Elevate Profiles


Weaponizing their offices and a network of right-wing money groups, state treasurers, AGs, and Secretaries of State have attempted 113 largely toothless “anti-ESG” actions


SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A report released today shows right wing state executives, including attorneys general, secretaries of state, and treasurers, are leveraging their power in an attempt to undermine corporate responsibility and promote themselves and extremist, right-wing causes under the banner of “anti-ESG.”


The report by Pleiades Strategy, Anti-ESG Executive Actions in the States: How Governors, State Treasurers, AGs, and Secretaries of State are Weaponizing Their Offices to Obstruct Climate Action, highlights 113 actions Republican state executives have taken since 2018 under the banner of “anti-ESG.” In general, the actions attempt to ban voluntary corporate action on climate, slow regulatory efforts to safeguard our economy from the risks of climate change, and obstruct companies and state institutions from taking advantage of the economic opportunities of the ongoing transition to clean energy.

Many of these executive actions are purely rhetorical and symbolic, using culture war messaging and tactics to challenge sustainability goals and responsible business practices. The actions have mostly taken the form of letters and reports, as well as investigations that were never launched. The few actions that had a concrete policy impact were largely initiated as a result of legislation passed by state legislatures, and proved to be incredibly costly to those states and their constituents. For example, the Texas Association of Business recently found that the state incurred $668 million in lost economic activity and lost 3,034 potential jobs as a result of two state bills and the subsequent creation and enforcement of a financial provider blacklist by the Comptroller.


“These actions are far more bark than bite. The vast majority do nothing except create a politicized environment that promotes confusion, wastes time, and distracts from the reality of a changing climate,” said Pleiades Strategy Founder, Frances Sawyer. “Where the rhetoric gives way to real concrete policies, the costs of these right-wing bans have been crystal clear: constituents pay more for basic services, companies are restricted in their ability to mitigate known risks, and the fossil fuel industry benefits.”


Even within costly blacklists of companies that allegedly “boycott” fossil fuels, close analysis shows more posturing than substance. The report shows those lists are often filled with financial institutions that 1) actually do substantial business with the fossil fuel industry or 2) don’t have any connection to those respective states — or both. For example, Texas’ “List of Financial Companies that Boycott Energy Companies” is made up of 15 financial institutions in total, fourteen of which are foreign banks that have no contracts with the State of Texas. The 15th invests more than $225 billion in US-based fossil energy firms. In 2024, West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore added four banks to his state’s blacklist, none of which had any active or recent contracts with the state.


The actions accounted for in this report complement Pleiades’ comprehensive state legislative tracking, which has followed the fate of 370 “anti-ESG” bills in 39 states since 2021. The vast majority of these legislative proposals have failed after hitting diverse opposition from business, finance, labor, retirees, the environmental community, and more. While most proposals failed, as of today, 41 laws have passed in 18 states. The vast majority of these laws were significantly watered down before passage.


Anti-ESG executive actions and state legislation are part of a coordinated right-wing campaign detailed in today’s report and in the Pleiades 2023 Statehouse Report. As they illuminate, executives have been aided by fossil fuel connected, dark-money funded think tanks and advocacy groups that are actively supporting them with ideas for actions, drafting support, and action amplification. Over 100 individual state executive officers have taken action in this campaign. Many of the executives pushing these bans are using the campaign to promote themselves and protect their allies in the fossil fuel industry, regardless of the cost to taxpayers and residents. For example, the industry contributes substantial funds to the election campaigns of Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, former Louisiana Treasurer John Schroder, and West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore.


“Powerful polluting industries are doing anything they can to influence lawmakers to delay the energy transition and commonsense climate financial regulation,” said Jeremy Siegel, Researcher at Pleiades Strategy and co-author of the report. “Through these executive actions and legislative proposals, the right is “flooding the zone,” as Steve Bannon would describe. The strategy is to make us waste time, energy and money and to sabotage the energy transition. But these actions don’t change the fundamental truth that climate risk is financial risk. We have to stay clear-eyed about what is at stake.”


Report authors are available for interview upon request.
]]> New Research Analyzes 113 Anti-ESG Executive Actions Across 31 States

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 8, 2024


CONTACT: TJ Helmstetter on behalf of Pleiades Strategy - tjhelm@gmail.com


Report shows Republican State Leaders Trying to Ban Responsible Business to Undermine the Energy Transition and Elevate Profiles


Weaponizing their offices and a network of right-wing money groups, state treasurers, AGs, and Secretaries of State have attempted 113 largely toothless “anti-ESG” actions


SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A report released today shows right wing state executives, including attorneys general, secretaries of state, and treasurers, are leveraging their power in an attempt to undermine corporate responsibility and promote themselves and extremist, right-wing causes under the banner of “anti-ESG.”


The report by Pleiades Strategy, Anti-ESG Executive Actions in the States: How Governors, State Treasurers, AGs, and Secretaries of State are Weaponizing Their Offices to Obstruct Climate Action, highlights 113 actions Republican state executives have taken since 2018 under the banner of “anti-ESG.” In general, the actions attempt to ban voluntary corporate action on climate, slow regulatory efforts to safeguard our economy from the risks of climate change, and obstruct companies and state institutions from taking advantage of the economic opportunities of the ongoing transition to clean energy.

Many of these executive actions are purely rhetorical and symbolic, using culture war messaging and tactics to challenge sustainability goals and responsible business practices. The actions have mostly taken the form of letters and reports, as well as investigations that were never launched. The few actions that had a concrete policy impact were largely initiated as a result of legislation passed by state legislatures, and proved to be incredibly costly to those states and their constituents. For example, the Texas Association of Business recently found that the state incurred $668 million in lost economic activity and lost 3,034 potential jobs as a result of two state bills and the subsequent creation and enforcement of a financial provider blacklist by the Comptroller.


“These actions are far more bark than bite. The vast majority do nothing except create a politicized environment that promotes confusion, wastes time, and distracts from the reality of a changing climate,” said Pleiades Strategy Founder, Frances Sawyer. “Where the rhetoric gives way to real concrete policies, the costs of these right-wing bans have been crystal clear: constituents pay more for basic services, companies are restricted in their ability to mitigate known risks, and the fossil fuel industry benefits.”


Even within costly blacklists of companies that allegedly “boycott” fossil fuels, close analysis shows more posturing than substance. The report shows those lists are often filled with financial institutions that 1) actually do substantial business with the fossil fuel industry or 2) don’t have any connection to those respective states — or both. For example, Texas’ “List of Financial Companies that Boycott Energy Companies” is made up of 15 financial institutions in total, fourteen of which are foreign banks that have no contracts with the State of Texas. The 15th invests more than $225 billion in US-based fossil energy firms. In 2024, West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore added four banks to his state’s blacklist, none of which had any active or recent contracts with the state.


The actions accounted for in this report complement Pleiades’ comprehensive state legislative tracking, which has followed the fate of 370 “anti-ESG” bills in 39 states since 2021. The vast majority of these legislative proposals have failed after hitting diverse opposition from business, finance, labor, retirees, the environmental community, and more. While most proposals failed, as of today, 41 laws have passed in 18 states. The vast majority of these laws were significantly watered down before passage.


Anti-ESG executive actions and state legislation are part of a coordinated right-wing campaign detailed in today’s report and in the Pleiades 2023 Statehouse Report. As they illuminate, executives have been aided by fossil fuel connected, dark-money funded think tanks and advocacy groups that are actively supporting them with ideas for actions, drafting support, and action amplification. Over 100 individual state executive officers have taken action in this campaign. Many of the executives pushing these bans are using the campaign to promote themselves and protect their allies in the fossil fuel industry, regardless of the cost to taxpayers and residents. For example, the industry contributes substantial funds to the election campaigns of Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, former Louisiana Treasurer John Schroder, and West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore.


“Powerful polluting industries are doing anything they can to influence lawmakers to delay the energy transition and commonsense climate financial regulation,” said Jeremy Siegel, Researcher at Pleiades Strategy and co-author of the report. “Through these executive actions and legislative proposals, the right is “flooding the zone,” as Steve Bannon would describe. The strategy is to make us waste time, energy and money and to sabotage the energy transition. But these actions don’t change the fundamental truth that climate risk is financial risk. We have to stay clear-eyed about what is at stake.”


Report authors are available for interview upon request.
]]> Wed, 08 May 2024 10:00:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Pleiades Strategy Releases Live Anti-ESG State Bill Tracker]]> https://mailchi.mp/3194a4202993/pleiades-strategy-releases-live-anti-esg-state-bill-tracker https://mailchi.mp/3194a4202993/pleiades-strategy-releases-live-anti-esg-state-bill-tracker Pleiades Strategy Releases Live Anti-ESG State Bill Tracker

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 30, 2024


CONTACT: press@pleiadesstrategy.com


Pleiades 2024 Anti-ESG Bill Tracker Launches Today


Contains live and in-depth intel on the rightwing campaign to ban responsible investing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA —Today Pleiades Strategy, a strategic research and advisory firm, released its 2024 State Legislative Outlook and published its comprehensive anti-ESG bill tracker.


This bill tracker will be regularly updated throughout the 2024 state legislative sessions. It aims to help stakeholders across sectors (including policymakers, journalists, academics, and investors) understand the anti-ESG legislative campaign’s efforts to politicize state financial regulation and investments. This is the first time the Pleiades state legislative tracker has been made publicly available in real time.


Alongside the tracker, Pleiades has released its 2024 State Legislative Outlook previewing the policies, political dynamics, and controversies of the 2024 session. The outlook builds on the 2023 Statehouse Report, which chronicled the Republican-led coordinated legislative effort to restrict state fund managers and private businesses from considering common-sense ESG-related risk factors. These proposals failed to gain widespread support, even in Republican-led states, as their harmful costs to constituents became clear. The bills, which targeted state contracting, pension management, insurance, and securities disclosures, amongst other levers of power, were met by strong opposition from a diverse set of stakeholders including labor leaders, businesses, state investment officers, environmentalists and local officials.


“While rightwing efforts to politicize state finances will continue to drive up the noise, they won’t change the fundamental truth that how a company treats its workers, how it is governed, and how it responds to the climate crisis matters for the bottom line,” said Frances Sawyer, founder of Pleiades Strategy and co-author of the report. “There are now plenty of receipts proving the harmful and costly impact of anti-ESG legislation, but we know these bills are and will continue to be docketed by Republican lawmakers in 2024. What will also continue is the diverse opposition to these policies we have seen from business, labor, and environmental advocates in statehouses across the country.”


Between 2021-2023, Pleiades tracked 318 distinct pieces of anti-ESG legislation in 38 states. Only 37 of these have become law, the majority of which were subject to significant amendments that weakened the worst provisions within the original proposals. Already in 2024, Pleiades is following 50 additional bills, along with 64 bills that have carried over from 2023.


“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 to give preferred firms a leg up in a market where they’re losing their competitive edge,” said report author Connor Gibson. “The fight has created a powerful resistance of business, labor, investors, libertarians, and progressives — resistance that we expect to continue in 2024. 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.”


More detail about this nationwide campaign to politicize state funds and contracts and ban the consideration of environmental, social and governance risk factors can be found in the Pleiades 2023 Statehouse Report, in Pleiades Strategy’s newly published live bill tracker, and the 2024 State Legislative Outlook.


Reach out for a tutorial on the Anti-ESG Bill Tracker
]]> Pleiades Strategy Releases Live Anti-ESG State Bill Tracker

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 30, 2024


CONTACT: press@pleiadesstrategy.com


Pleiades 2024 Anti-ESG Bill Tracker Launches Today


Contains live and in-depth intel on the rightwing campaign to ban responsible investing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA —Today Pleiades Strategy, a strategic research and advisory firm, released its 2024 State Legislative Outlook and published its comprehensive anti-ESG bill tracker.


This bill tracker will be regularly updated throughout the 2024 state legislative sessions. It aims to help stakeholders across sectors (including policymakers, journalists, academics, and investors) understand the anti-ESG legislative campaign’s efforts to politicize state financial regulation and investments. This is the first time the Pleiades state legislative tracker has been made publicly available in real time.


Alongside the tracker, Pleiades has released its 2024 State Legislative Outlook previewing the policies, political dynamics, and controversies of the 2024 session. The outlook builds on the 2023 Statehouse Report, which chronicled the Republican-led coordinated legislative effort to restrict state fund managers and private businesses from considering common-sense ESG-related risk factors. These proposals failed to gain widespread support, even in Republican-led states, as their harmful costs to constituents became clear. The bills, which targeted state contracting, pension management, insurance, and securities disclosures, amongst other levers of power, were met by strong opposition from a diverse set of stakeholders including labor leaders, businesses, state investment officers, environmentalists and local officials.


“While rightwing efforts to politicize state finances will continue to drive up the noise, they won’t change the fundamental truth that how a company treats its workers, how it is governed, and how it responds to the climate crisis matters for the bottom line,” said Frances Sawyer, founder of Pleiades Strategy and co-author of the report. “There are now plenty of receipts proving the harmful and costly impact of anti-ESG legislation, but we know these bills are and will continue to be docketed by Republican lawmakers in 2024. What will also continue is the diverse opposition to these policies we have seen from business, labor, and environmental advocates in statehouses across the country.”


Between 2021-2023, Pleiades tracked 318 distinct pieces of anti-ESG legislation in 38 states. Only 37 of these have become law, the majority of which were subject to significant amendments that weakened the worst provisions within the original proposals. Already in 2024, Pleiades is following 50 additional bills, along with 64 bills that have carried over from 2023.


“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 to give preferred firms a leg up in a market where they’re losing their competitive edge,” said report author Connor Gibson. “The fight has created a powerful resistance of business, labor, investors, libertarians, and progressives — resistance that we expect to continue in 2024. 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.”


More detail about this nationwide campaign to politicize state funds and contracts and ban the consideration of environmental, social and governance risk factors can be found in the Pleiades 2023 Statehouse Report, in Pleiades Strategy’s newly published live bill tracker, and the 2024 State Legislative Outlook.


Reach out for a tutorial on the Anti-ESG Bill Tracker
]]> Tue, 30 Jan 2024 13:15:00 +0000