Why the Politicalization of ESG Does Not Matter

Last week Tim Mohin, one of our favorite experts on ESG, led his weekly newsletter with this headline: “Is ESG Beyond Redemption?” In the roundup of politicized views, he leaves the reader with a sense of weak support for climate reporting. Although investors have not budged, and want this data, everyone else is piling on with opinions.

Here at GLYNT we’ve written about the politicization of ESG before. Our argument is that each investor can do as they want – no need to have a diatribe. If you think climate change is real, invest that way. If you don’t, ignore the data. The capital markets will sort out winners and losers.

Since then, we’ve only seen confirmation that efforts to politicize ESG won’t stop the disclosure trend:

• Amazon and Microsoft, two of the ten largest global supply chains, require emissions reporting from all suppliers starting in 2025.
• EY, one of the top four accounting firms, goes even further: 75% of its suppliers must show reduction plans that are sufficiently steep by 2025. Suppliers who show too little reductions in their multi-year plans will be dropped.
• California, with the 5th largest economy in the world, now requires climate disclosures for any firm making over $500 million in California.