Republicans are on a “crusade” against responsible investing, says Andrew Behar, CEO of the nonprofit group As You Sow that promotes corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy. His group was subpoenaed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee this week as Republicans probe whether investments that take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns violate antitrust laws. Republicans have introduced bills in dozens of states across the U.S. to limit state bodies from working with banks and other financial firms that take things like climate change into consideration in their investments. ESG is “a framework for assessing risk,” Behar says. “Basic good business says you want to assess and address risk, and that’s what they’re trying to suppress.”

tl;dr - House Republicans are targeting socially responsible investing, including investments that take into account environmental concerns like climate change.

And that’s a threat to them, because what they’re trying to do is to basically stop people from looking at the climate risk from the oil companies. And they’re saying, “Don’t look up.” They’re saying, “Put your head in the ground.” And what we’re saying is, “We need the freedom to invest.” Like, they’re trying to suppress our freedom to be able to make logical, good business choices. And in doing so, at the state level, their harming their own citizens. - Andrew Behar, CEO of non-profit group As You Sow which promotes corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, speaking to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! - March 29, 2024