The ‘E’ in ESG: How the Left Injects Climate Alarmism into America’s Boardrooms

The following content is the third in a five-part series sponsored by the 1792 Exchange. Click here to see the other installments.

The “E” in ESG – “Environmental” – is how anti-fossil fuel climate activism has captured corporate America to the detriment of our economy, our energy security, and our national security.

Daniel Cameron, CEO of the 1792 Exchange, explains how it works in an interview with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow.  The 1792 Exchange exposes coercion and ideological bias in corporations and works to get America’s businesses back to business.

Marlow notes that the “E” in ESG (which stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance) is “stifling America’s energy sector” and “ultimately harming the economy.”

“But these corporations are still compelled to go along with some of these new leftist measures. Why are they embracing this? What’s going on?” Marlow asks Cameron.

Cameron explains that the “E” in ESG is about inserting anti-fossil fuel “climate alarmism” into America’s corporate boardrooms. Cameron, who served as the Attorney General of Kentucky, says he saw firsthand the dangers of these policies for his coal-producing state.

“I hail from the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Cameron says, “And when you hear either the Biden administration or Larry Fink at BlackRock or other of these asset fund managers talk about wanting to destroy the fossil fuel industry by 2030 or 2050… that was a big red flag for me because in Kentucky, we are the seventh largest generator of coal.”

Kentucky’s abundant coal resources give the state a “competitive advantage” in providing reliable and affordable energy, Cameron explains. “When you have somebody that wants to destroy that, what you’re saying to me as a state official is that you’re trying to destroy our livelihood,” he says.

Cameron notes that this destructive climate activism is “playing out all across the country” in states with economies dependent on coal, oil, or natural gas. And this activism not only hurts the states’ economies; it also hurts U.S. energy security by making America more dependent on unstable and potentially hostile foreign regimes for our energy.

He also adds that this corporate environmental “virtue signaling” hurts the profitability of American companies and also hurt the retirees whose pensions are managed by asset funds.

“What this is ultimately about is using the hard-earned dollars of shareholders of retirees—about using the money of teachers, firefighters, and police officers—to virtue signal so that corporate leadership and hedge fund managers can ingratiate themselves to the climate alarmists,” Cameron says. “This is bad for America. It’s bad for our energy independence because what it ultimately does is makes us rely on foreign adversaries.”

What can Americans do to make sure their pension fund’s asset managers are not pushing this left-wing climate agenda?

Cameron encourages Americans to visit 1792exchange.com and use information amassed in the 1792 Exchange‘s Corporate Bias Ratings, Proxy Database, and Board Bias Database.

“It’s incumbent upon people to recognize that you don’t have to continue to fund the virtue signaling that is occurring out of these asset fund managers,” Cameron says. “What you can do is equip yourself with the knowledge—whether you’re a state official, whether you’re a citizen, whether you’re a shareholder.”

As he explains it, the goal of 1792 Exchange is to get these corporations “back to neutral because: one, it’s good for the return on investment; two, it is important for the energy independence of this country; and three, it is better overall for American society to make sure that we have corporations and asset fund managers that are ultimately about business and not virtue signaling.”

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