| | | | |  | | By Eleanor Mueller and Jasper Goodman | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Jordan Wolman and Emma Cordover.
| | |  “You can make the argument we have effectuated change, regardless of whether there's additional legislation or legislative activity,” Rep. Bill Huizenga said of Republican lawmakers' anti-ESG push. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | ESG ENCORE — House Republicans are taking another run at environmental, social and governance policies this month, shifting to a broader swing at culture war issues after focusing on the financial industry last year. Lawmakers are still planning to vote on bills that would steer retirement plan managers away from ESG initiatives and limit the types of disclosures the SEC can compel — as well as scrutinizing the corporate proxy process and bank regulators’ international work on climate policies. But they will also consider proposals dealing with campus free speech and the college accreditation process this time around. Last year’s campaign was blunted when Congress failed to override President Joe Biden’s veto of ESG-related legislation sent to his desk, and passing laws may be beside the point, particularly with elections looming less than two months away. “Even if they're messaging bills, I think it's good to send a message,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said in an interview on Monday. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) said the success of the GOP effort can’t be measured simply in terms of new laws, pointing to evidence of what’s been accomplished outside the legislative process. “You can make the argument we have effectuated change, regardless of whether there's additional legislation or legislative activity,” Huizenga, who leads House Republicans’ anti-ESG working group, said in an interview Monday. “There have been publicly traded companies, there have been the big managers and others, who have adopted new and different policies because of the work that we've done.” Huizenga is leading a subcommittee hearing this afternoon on “why companies and investment firms are turning away from ESG activism,” as well as “the activist influence of proxy advisory firms.” And Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) has introduced a bill that would boost oversight of banking regulators' work abroad after slamming global governance organizations Friday for declining to appear at another subcommittee hearing. Asset managers' pivot away from ESG is one example of how lawmakers' efforts are paying off, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said: "It's a tribute to the success we've had just with oversight." Those changes, of course, may be largely attributable to red-state leaders across the country who have enacted laws that bar government agencies from doing business with firms accused of boycotting the fossil fuel industry or otherwise embracing ESG principles..
| | | | A message from Cheniere Energy: As America’s #1 LNG producer, we are energizing a more secure future. | | | | | POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES — A new report from a centrist policy nonprofit takes a fresh look at how the “highly politicized” battle around ESG issues is harming fiduciaries, companies and financial plan beneficiaries. “Any time constraints are imposed on assessing risks or opportunities for long-term value creation, there will almost certainly be added costs and unforeseen consequences,” Washington-based Centerline Liberties argues in the report shared first with POLITICO. The report focuses mainly on red-state moves to punish companies and money managers that weigh ESG factors in making business decisions, efforts that it says have already started to show negative economic consequences. But it also criticizes blue-state moves to divest public pension funds from the fossil-fuel industry, noting that those investment decisions should also be protected from “political interference.” Divestment can lead to reduced competition, higher interest rates and reduced portfolio performance, as well as increased compliance costs and diminished returns for firms. And exceptions to such laws have the potential to become the rule, Centerline said, potentially blunting their effect and raising questions about whether they are “the most prudent way to address the problem of removing political or social considerations from decision-making.” “While the intent to remove politics from investment and business decisions is certainly a reasonable endeavor, restricting the way ESG factors can be used and the penalties for misusing those factors, with significant exceptions, may well end up undermining the original intent of the laws,” the report said.
| | | | BALANCING ACT — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has laid out an overview of her climate and energy goals that appears to be aimed at trying to balance environmentalists’ hopes for continued action to fight global warming and boost renewables with efforts to keep energy costs down, Zack Colman reports. “She will unite Americans to tackle the climate crisis as she builds on this historic work, advances environmental justice, protects public lands and public health, increases resilience to climate disasters, lowers household energy costs, creates millions of new jobs, and continues to hold polluters accountable to secure clean air and water for all,” the campaign said. The statement, which offered no details on specific policies that she would implement, was the first glimpse of Harris’ climate and energy priorities since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid. It comes just ahead of today’s debate against Republican nominee former President Donald Trump, whose campaign has blasted her for offering few policy details and priorities. Harris’ environmental allies said the statement reflected a stark contrast with Trump, who has assailed the Biden administration’s climate policies and vowed to unravel the Inflation Reduction Act. “She is running against the most anti-climate, pro-polluter former president ever,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs for the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund. “People are not parsing every single word because we know that she’s going to build on the climate leadership of the Biden-Harris administration.”
| | | | A message from Cheniere Energy:   | | | | | GETTING WARMER — The U.S. and China are moving toward agreement on global climate finance targets ahead of a November presidential election that could upend that progress, Sara Schonhardt reports. White House climate adviser John Podesta said the two nations "were able to narrow" their differences during three days of talks in Beijing that ended without any major announcements ahead of COP29 in November. "Some differences" remain on how the two countries can deliver more money to help poorer nations address rising temperatures, Podesta said. While last week’s talks laid the groundwork for further cooperation, it could all be scuttled if Trump returns to office and moves to scrap the Biden administration’s climate policies. The visit indicates there is interest in engaging and even preparing at a technical level in the event that Harris wins in November, according to Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “We shouldn't read too much into the fact that there is no immediate outcome because a lot will depend on how the election goes,” Li said. “But this visit is really helping both sides to prepare postelection, and I think there are reasons to believe that this visit has helped their effort.”
| | | GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we tell you about the latest on efforts to shape our future. Join us every Tuesday as we keep you in the loop on the world of sustainability. Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott and reporter Jordan Wolman. Reach us at gmott@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Sign up for the Long Game. It's free!
| | — Bloomberg takes a look at how a second Trump administration could turn a program that spurred the green transition into a fossil-fuel lender. — Developers, environmentalists and others are teaming up to create pollinator-friendly solar farms, according to the New York Times. — The nation’s largest public utility is drawing criticism over plans to build new gas plants, the Washington Post reports.
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