ESG

August 25, 2022

 ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. Investors are increasingly applying these non-financial factors as part of their analytical process to identify material risks and growth opportunities. Professionally managed assets with ESG mandates swelled to $46 trillion globally in 2021, representing nearly 40% of all assets under management, according to Deloitte’s Center for Financial Services.

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida passed a resolution directing the state of Florida’s fund managers to invest state funds in a manner that prioritizes the highest return on investment for Florida’s taxpayers and retirees without considering the ideological agenda of the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) movement. Likely Presidential candidate DiSantis is saying that he knows more about investing than companies like Citi, Fidelity, Vanguard and many others as well as the pension funds and individuals that choose these investment options in the form of mutual funds, ETF’s and other, professionally managed accounts.

President DeSantis wants to tell companies how to invest. He wants to tell teachers what books the can use, and what can’t be in those books. He wants Florida’s schools to stop teaching stuff they are not actually teaching. He wants to punish companies like Disney who don’t tow the line. He is a bully with an ideological agenda. He may be right for Florida, but he is far too Right for the rest of us.