House Judiciary Committee Democrats have launched a probe into the financial impact of recent anti-ESG laws passed in Florida and Texas. The two conservative states have made it illegal to consider environment, sustainability and governance (“ESG”) factors in policy and state funds, causing companies with ties to the green-energy movement to divest from the two states.
ESG has been one of the trending topics in the financial world for several years and guided the investment strategies of major investment houses such as BlackRock for quite a while. However, ESG considerations have come under attack from the GOP in recent years as the right has become increasingly hostile to ESG investing. The culmination of this has been policies such as the ones passed in Texas and Florida that bar the use of ESG considerations in state funds and policies.
Democrats from the House Judiciary Committee are now looking into the monetary losses Texas and Florida may have suffered after they passed anti-ESG policies. Letters sent by committee members to state officials asked the chief financial officials and attorney generals of both states to provide the committee with detailed information on the impact of their restrictive financial policies.
Furthermore, the letters outlined evidence that such policies caused harm by threatening the savings of public employees and making taxpayers liable for increased borrowing costs and higher fees.
Committee member Jerry Nadler and Representative Lou Correa instructed the relevant authorities for both states to respond to their respective letters by June 3, 2024. According to the two Democrats, state-level efforts to punish investment by banning the use of ESG factors in investment strategies represent the infusion of politics into financial decisions. The two added that Texas and Florida aren’t the only states fighting against ESG investing; more than 10 other states had restricted ESG investing in some way during last year’s legislative session.
ESG investing will be critical to the financing of green industries that benefit both society and the environment, such as solar. However, this would also cut investment in fossil fuels in favor of renewables, posing an existential-level threat to the oil industry. Multiple reports now show that anti-ESG policies designed to eliminate this threat are negatively impacting home states through lost investments and higher borrowing costs.
Recently published research showed that anti-ESG policies in Texas didn’t gain much traction with voters and could cost the state 3,000 full-time jobs, hundreds of millions in lost economic activity, and more than $20 billion in fees and high interest rates over the next three decades.
The involvement of lawmakers on Capitol Hill is likely to bring unpredicted effects to the ESG debate, and enterprises such as Coyuchi Inc. are likely to take a keen interest in this developing debate.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Coyuchi Inc. are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/COYU
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