The Republican chair of a US congressional committee demanded over 130 investors clarify their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives, highlighting his party’s ongoing scrutiny of these initiatives.
The House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust Chairman Thomas Massie demanded information from more than 130 US-based companies, retirement systems, and government pension programmes about their involvement with the woke ESG cartel Climate Action 100+.
Jordan, who issued the letters, has raised concerns that collective commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could potentially breach antitrust laws. This view contrasts with the Democratic minority’s stance, highlighting the partisan divide on the issue.
Republican criticism has focused on alliances formed around corporate climate commitments, driven partly by concerns over potential job losses in the fossil fuel sector. One such alliance, Climate Action 100+, includes approximately 700 signatories.
The committee’s letters target Climate Action 100+’s efforts to encourage companies to develop plans for managing the energy transition. Each recipient was requested to detail their expectations from companies in their portfolios and instructed to retain all documents and communications related to ESG goals.
Although no antitrust lawsuits have been filed against any climate coalition, Jordan’s committee claims credit for the decisions of several asset managers to withdraw from the group due to fears of legal repercussions. The committee has also conducted interviews with former regulators and issued subpoenas as part of its antitrust investigation.
In June, the Committee released an interim staff report titled, “Climate Control: Exposing the Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing,” which details direct evidence of a “climate cartel” consisting of left-wing activists and major financial institutions that collude to impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.
“The Committee continues to examine whether existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion to promote ESG-related goals in the investment industry. The over 130 companies, retirement systems, and government pension programmes with membership in Climate Action 100+ must answer for their involvement in prioritising woke investments over their own fiduciary duties,” a press statement said.
