Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is joining other states in questioning the ESG practices of two proxy advisory companies, International Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass, Lewis & Co. (Glass Lewis).
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, which Marshall believes goes against the fiduciary promises of those advisory companies.
Attorney General Steve Marshall Joins 20 States in Challenging Proxy Firms’ ESG Practiceshttps://t.co/ALzWCYbgAA pic.twitter.com/VNEo3QlDhz
— Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) January 20, 2023
“It is vital that these financial institutions are providing recommendations based upon the economic value of prospective investments and not any broader political or social agenda,” he said in a news release. “A client’s hard-earned money should not be used to fund social-engineering projects to the detriment of the client’s financial interests.”
Marshall joined 20 other state attorneys general in a letter to those financial institutions stating, “Your actions may threaten the economic value of our States’ and citizens’ investments and pensions — interests that may not be subordinated to your social and environmental beliefs, or those of your other clients.”
Marshall also discussed the issue Monday on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria.”
It was great to join @MorningsMaria today on @FoxBusiness to talk with @MariaBartiromo about the actions I’m taking against “woke” companies abandoning their fiduciary duties and using their leverage in the financial market to advance a radical environmental agenda. Watch ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/sLYjlaA7SQ
— Attorney General Steve Marshall (@AGSteveMarshall) January 23, 2023
“We’ve been very successful with Republican attorneysgGeneral across the country banding together to push back on this woke agenda that is facilitated through ESG practices,” Marshall said. “We’ve seen, recently, success where 13 AGs filed to intervene in front of the Federal Regulatory Commission for Vanguard’s efforts to enhance their energy-related investment, seeing Vanguard remove themselves from the Net Zero Alliance.”
Marshall reiterated that this just one of many ways they plan on fighting against these ESG actions.
“We’ve had the opportunity as attorneys general to be able to submit comment letters specifically to the respective regulatory bodies,” he said, “and I expect you’ll see significant litigation in the business world over the coming months. We have an opportunity to truly push back on this liberal agenda.”
He also believes these practices are not just bad policy, but hurt the nation’s economic future.
“When we don’t have the ability to capitalize on the investments that we have, the natural resources we have in this country, this nation becomes weaker,” he said.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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