Republicans Map Out Their Agenda On ESG

The Republican Party’s majority in the House of Representatives will take office in January, and some members and committees have already started laying out their ESG agendas for the new Congress. 
Among those are members of the Judiciary Committee, who have indicated that they would like to understand better how ESG and ESG-related organizations fit into the existing body of antitrust legislation and regulation: “Six Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have launched an investigation looking into whether major climate groups are violating federal antitrust laws in their effort to push the “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) agenda.

Their concerns were raised in a letter dated Dec. 6 to two executives on the steering committee for investor group Climate Action 100+ in which the Republicans argued that ESG, at its core, was “merely partisan politics masquerading as responsible corporate governance.”

Related: Republicans Think ESG Efforts May Violate Antitrust Laws

The ESG agenda has now included “stifling investment in oil and gas,” gun control, abortion access, and “fake news dissemination,” according to the letter.

The lawmakers likened the climate action investor group to a “cartel,” whose job is to “ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change,” quoting from the group’s website.

The letter was signed by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.), and Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.). Jordan, currently the ranking Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee, will be the committee’s chairperson in the Republican-led House in January.