The need for a real debate…

Here’s a note from Tariq Fancy:

Ten months ago I published a three-part essay entitled The Secret Diary of a ‘Sustainable Investor’ that went viral. In it I questioned the current consensus on ESG issues, calling today’s approach a “dangerous placebo that harms the public interest.”

Having previously served as BlackRock’s first Chief Investment Officer for sustainable investing, I was publicly branded a whistleblower for rubbishing the firm’s “Stakeholder Capitalism” thesis. How would BlackRock’s chief, Larry Fink, respond?

Over a year later the answer is clear. He won’t. Besides the Secret Diary paper above and widespread media coverage, I’ve personally written guest pieces in The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Economist, USA Today, the Globe & Mail, and others, all intended to spark an overdue debate.

It *should* have been noticed – unfortunately, after a year it’s clear that I’m debating against PR teams. When Larry Fink wrote in his 2018 annual letter that governments are failing and that the private sector could fill this void through a commitment to ‘social purpose’, no one questioned their democratic legitimacy to do so.

And as if to underline that point, their response to a public whistleblower was a non-response. Could any government minister have gotten away with that?

Whether you agree or disagree with the arguments I’ve made, there’s no question that we’re running out of time to have an honest and frank debate. So if you’re in the camp that believes that we need to question the current business consensus, do you mind sharing this post and the paper with your network?

Maybe if we do that enough, we’ll finally force some accountability and a real debate…