Sustainability

DeSantis Bans ESG Investment
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. © Hunter Crenian / Shutterstock.com

DeSantis Bans ESG Investment

By Simon Johns - Feb 20, 2023

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proposed a law that will ban fund managers for state entities from considering ESG investments and, government procurement departments from requesting ESG information from suppliers.

DeSantis, the Florida state legislature’s top politician, is an enthusiastic anti-ESG campaigner among Republicans, having already banned fund managers from investing state pension funds from ESG investing and pulled U.S. $2 billion from hedge fund giant Blackrock for its eschewal of fossil fuels.

“By applying arbitrary ESG financial metrics that serve no one except the companies that created them, elites are circumventing the ballot box to implement a radical ideological agenda. Through this legislation, we will protect the investments of Floridians and the ability of Floridians to participate in the economy,” DeSantis said in a statement.

The backlash against ESG investment comes as the Biden Administration has been emphasising the transition to clean energy, electric vehicles and drawing down reliance on fossil fuels through legislation such as the Inflation Act and the Infrastructure Law.

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