DeSantis Ignites Multistate War on ESG Scores: ‘Keep Power to the People’
July 28, 2022 Updated 8:38 A.M. ET
TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis called on governors of both parties to band together and fight against “woke” environmental, social and governance criteria, or ESG score.
“You’re gonna see some other states do what Florida [did],” he told Tucker Carlson Tonight.
DeSantis called on conservative states to get their “proxy voting rights” by banding together and to “vote as a block” in checking against ESG scores in corporate America.
“So I would urge all my fellow governors around the country, hell, Republican or Democrat, you know, let’s band together and let’s fight back against this so we can keep power to the people,” he continued.
ESG criteria rates companies based on factors like how the company addresses climate change and its relationships with employees. DeSantis said this criteria is used to target “disfavored” individuals and industries to advance a “woke” ideological agenda.
Conservice ESG says that an ESG score measures a company’s “exposure to long-term environmental, social, and governance risks that are often overlooked during traditional financial analyses.” The ESG score is also promulgated by the World Economic Forum and Davos group.
DeSantis announced new changes for the next legislative session to go after ESG criteria, including prohibiting the State Board of Administration fund managers from using political factors when determining where to invest the state’s money.
It was also announced that the state would prohibit Wall Street banks, credit card companies and money transmitters like PayPal from discriminating against customers for their religious, political or social beliefs.
“Paypal continued to allow the donations to come in but they did not allow us to withdraw those funds. It brought our organization to a screeching halt,” Tina Descovich, the co-founder of the nonprofit Moms for Liberty, said.
“Do we want our society to be governed by some of the most economically elite and powerful interests in society?” DeSantis asked. “And I think our economy is going to be much better off if everything is not politicized. It used to be it wasn’t a political issue. You didn’t have to take positions on every little thing.”
“Now almost everything that’s being done, there’s a political overtone to it. You can’t run an economy effectively if that’s the case.”
“We want to make sure that they are not using political factors when investing the state’s money,” DeSantis continued. “We want them to invest the state’s money for the best interests of the beneficiaries of those funds, which is again, the people that are retired cops and teachers and other public employees.”
