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ESG Developments This Week In the States Republican midterm gains could strengthen state opposition to ESG according to Roll Call Republicans flipped five state financial officer positions previously held by Democrats in Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada, and Wisconsin during the midterm elections. The partisan changes could strengthen opposition to ESG investing, according to a Roll…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C. Pence takes on ESG On May 10, ESG investing was the topic of discussion at an event in Houston, where former Vice President Mike Pence (R), critiqued the ESG role in changing the composition of the board of directors at Exxon-Mobil in 2021 and asked state-level officials to…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C. SEC disclosure proposal means new challenges for auditors On March 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) introduced its proposal on mandatory climate disclosures for publicly traded companies. Ever since, various media and analysts have been combing through the document, trying to figure out what exactly the new…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C. Responses to the SEC’s sustainability disclosure rule announcement In the week since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its plans to require sustainability disclosures from publicly traded companies, the reactions have been both manifold and diverse. Some support the idea, while others don’t. In any case, the…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C., and around the world Responses to Labor Department’s proposed rule encouraging ESG investments in retirement plans On December 13, National Review’s Capital Matters carried a piece by Richard Morrison, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, critical of the Labor Department’s proposed rule regarding ERISA-governed retirement plans…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C. Rubio introduces bill targeting ESG-conscious corporate policies U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on September 23 introduced the Mind Your Own Business Act, which would allow a company’s shareholders to sue the company if it adopts policies that shareholders claim are not in the company’s best interest. The legislation…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C. SEC Chairman Gensler testimony on crypto, disclosure, and more On September 14, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, covering several topics related to ESG investing. First, he discussed the SEC’s interest in regulating crypto-currencies and…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C., and around the world Saudi sovereign wealth fund reportedly seeking ESG framework, redux In the July 21 edition of this newsletter, we noted that the Saudi “sovereign wealth fund reportedly has begun the process of developing ESG reporting standards that will, presumably, allow it to raise greater funds…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C., and around the world Regulatory scrutiny over ESG-related sustainability claims intensifies As was noted in last week’s newsletter, the SEC is investigating DWS (the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank) for alleged ESG-related fraud—claims DWS rejects. Many ESG observers believe that the DWS probe is the beginning of…
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ESG Developments This Week In Washington, D.C. SEC, Justice Department probe Deutsche Bank’s DSW sustainability claims In the August 3, 2021, edition of this newsletter, we noted that Deutsche Bank and its asset management arm, DSW, were the subject of criticism by a former director of sustainability, Desiree Fixler, who had recently left the firm…