Confronting the political backlash against ESG, hundreds of companies and organizations, including money managers and asset owners, called on policymakers Thursday to allow sustainable investing to continue.
A statement issued by more than 270 signatories during the Ceres Global conference in New York called for protecting "the freedom to invest responsibly." It argued that investors need to consider all material financial risks and opportunities from climate change and other challenges, while policies limiting that approach would hurt everyone.
"Neglecting the robust economic benefits of the clean energy economy — and the substantial public and private investment opportunities that are necessary to achieve this shift — would represent a failure to build a stronger, more resilient U.S. economy and a betrayal of the interests of our stakeholders, shareholders, beneficiaries, customers, and the communities where we do business and live," the statement said.
One signatory, Kirsty Jenkinson, investment director, sustainable investment and stewardship strategies for the $306 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System, West Sacramento, said in a release on the statement that asking investors to ignore pervasive risks like market disruptions caused by climate change, or the investment opportunities offered by a clean energy transition, "is asking us to stop doing our jobs."
Brad Lander, New York City comptroller and fiduciary of the $243.6 billion New York City Retirement Systems, said in an interview that people in the broader investment community and marketplace "understand how absurd and dangerous what the GOP politicians are doing here is."
Responsible investing has "a long and clear structure" based on fiduciary duty to pension fund beneficiaries and others, and anti-ESG politicians are waging what he called a culture war "at the behest of their fossil fuel donors and at the expense" of those beneficiaries, Mr. Lander said.
Not allowing pension fund fiduciaries to consider risks like climate risk "would just wreck what it means to be a fiduciary," he said.
Asset owners and managers “need to keep calm and carry on,” said Anne Simpson, global head of sustainability for Franklin Templeton, at a media briefing on the Freedom to Invest Responsibly initiative.
“We don’t want the ‘woke’ noise to distract us from the day job of making money,” Ms. Simpson said. “We are not woke, we are awake. We have an inviolable duty to be prudent. That means you pay attention.”
The statement, which continues to collect signatories, is coordinated by Ceres and the We Mean Business Coalition.
