As President Biden (D) readies the federal government for his new Environmental Social Corporate Governance (ESG) agenda, resistance against the plan has mounted. Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has spearheaded an alliance of 18 states to fight against ESG in what they claim is "financial fraud."
ESG as pitched by Democrats intends on revolutionizing the way investors choose to invest in companies. Instead of measuring their bets purely on financial statistics, investors would have to consider a variety of hot-button factors such as a corporation's environmental impact.
Republicans have fiercely rejected this nationwide, with the Republican-led House of Representatives pushing legislation against ESG, which Biden has vowed to veto. The big push coming from the White House has now been termed "Woke Capitalism" by critics rather than the usual accusations of Socialism.
Today, Governor Ron DeSantis and the governors of 18 other states came together to strategize how states can fight against ESG. In a joint statement proposed by Florida, these states committed to lead state-level efforts to protect individuals from the ESG movement that threatens the vitality of the American economy and Americans’ economic freedom, such as removing all state pension funds and state-controlled investments from firms that follow the ESG model of ‘politics before fiduciary duty.’
"At my direction, Florida has led the way in combatting the pernicious effects of the ESG regime by directing our state pension fund managers to reject ESG and instead focus on obtaining the highest return on investment for Florida’s taxpayers and retirees," said Governor Ron DeSantis. "At the time I said we would spearhead an initiative to join with other like-minded states to send an even louder message to the financial industry that the American people have rejected ESG at the ballot box, and ideologues cannot and should not circumnavigate the will of the people. Today, we have delivered on that promise. Florida has emerged as America’s economic engine, with an unemployment rate consistently lower than the nation’s and the highest rate of business formations of any other state. We will not stand idly by as the stability of our country’s economy is threatened by woke executives who put their political agenda ahead of their clients’ finances."
This is not a new issue for Governor DeSantis, who has been working on legislation at the state level within Florida as early as last Summer to protect Floridians from the potential effects of ESG, such as prohibiting financial institutions from discriminating against customers for their political, religious and social beliefs.
