Republicans in the House of Representatives, led by Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, are moving to crack down on bureaucratic attempts to promote or require environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.
Firms like BlackRock and Trillium Asset Management use ESG investing to encourage companies to transition towards green energy, and federal agencies have used the rulemaking process to push contractors in the same direction. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Gary Gensler is a vigorous advocate of ESG investing, and has passed rules that require all publicly traded companies to release data on their climate emissions. Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee are pledging to investigate his actions in the 118th Congress.
Donalds’ bill, the ESG Rule Prevention Act, would prohibit all federal agencies from “requir[ing] as a condition of eligibility for a contract” an applicant to “disclose to the head of the agency the amount of greenhouse” gases the applicant emits. The legislation also prohibits federal agencies from setting “an emissions reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions” in their contracts. (RELATED: Vanguard Leaves Climate Alliance After Republican Officials Call For Government Inquiry)
Read the bill here:
The legislation, obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller ahead of its Wednesday introduction, was prompted by a new rule proposed by the Defense Department, NASA, and the General Service Administration, Donalds said in a statement. The rule would require federal contractors to set emissions targets and disclose their emissions statistics.
“The joint rule proposed by the Defense Department, NASA, and the General Service Administration is the latest effort by the Biden administration to push its leftist ESG agenda at the expense of the American people” Donalds told the Caller. “The ESG Rule Prevention Act will restore the Constitution’s separation of powers, promote competition and ensure that material factors like product quality and efficiency are prioritized ahead of left-wing social causes in the federal procurement marketplace.”
Republicans have pledged to conduct oversight of the federal rulemaking process, particularly in relation to climate issues. House Financial Services Committee members have noted National Economic Council chairman Brian Deese’s previous support for ESG investing during his time at BlackRock. Other Republicans have called out Biden administration officials’ claims that a swifter green transition would cut energy costs.
Many firms focused on ESG return less value to investors due to higher trader fees, according to The Wall Street Journal. Eight of the ten largest ESG-focused funds have under-performed the S&P 500 in 2022, Bloomberg reported.