GOP continues its ESG onslaught

Here’s a bevy of various pieces about how the GOP continues to challenge ESG in the US:

1. A note from Bob Eccles about how CalPERS and CalSTRS are caught in the midst of a climate crossfire. Republicans, like Freedom Caucus co-founder and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and former Vice President Mike Pence, and affiliated groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council, The Heritage Foundation, and the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) are firing salvoes at them for being fossil fuel unfriendly.

2. House Financial Services Committee Republicans John Rose (TN), Pete Sessions (TX), and Bryan Steil (WI) sent this letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler about whether there has been objective administration of the Rule 14a-8 no-action process, particularly over ESG shareholder proposals.

3. According to “ESG Today,” Attorneys General from 25 Republican-leaning U.S. states announced that they have launched a lawsuit against the Biden administration, aimed at stopping the implementation of a new DOL ERISA law that would allow for the consideration of climate and ESG factors in private employer-sponsored retirement plans.