Posted on 03/10/2022 4:33:49 AM PST by blam
There’s little doubt that the growing influence of ‘ESG’ investing helped lead Western Europe to its present unfavorable position, allowing Russia to dominate the energy space. But going forward, a handful of Wall Street analysts are contemplating another ‘ESG’ revamp: allowing “military weapons” and “defense” stocks to be considered “ESG” plays.
If you are thinking that this seems a little, well, off, don’t worry – you’re not alone. One prominent ESG investor said he was approached about the possibility last week, but he called the idea “absurd”, according to NYT.
Leslie Samuelrich, president of the Green Century Funds, which was founded by nonprofit groups, including the California Public Interest Research Group and the Citizen Lobby of New Jersey, was appalled by the notion.
“This is absurd,” she said. “It feels very opportunistic and shallow.” She added that Ukraine needed to be defended. “I’m part Ukrainian,” she said. “Of course, they need weapons.”
But she said that had nothing to do with investing in funds devoted to socially responsible investing. “Those who argue that weapons belong in a sustainable portfolio are capitalizing on the horrific attack,” she said. “Excluding military and civilian firearms has been a long-held screen by authentic responsible investors.”
Among the idea’s biggest supporters are two Citigroup analysts, who recently published research advocating the notion.
At least that’s the view of two analysts with Citi, who argue that the height of social responsibility at this moment requires putting your investment money into the stocks of companies that make weapons.
“Defending the values of liberal democracies and creating a deterrent, which preserves peace and global stability,” is so important that weapons makers should be included in funds that carry an E.S.G., or “environmental, social and governance,” label, the two analysts, Charles J. Armitage and Samuel Burgess, wrote.
But opponents of this idea have a somewhat different worldview than their more bullish peers because they believe it’s “so important” to cut weapons makers some slack in these particularly trying these times.
It certainly does to Andrew Behar, the chief executive of As You Sow, an advocacy and research group that frequently files shareholder proxy proposals on E.S.G. issues.
“We don’t think that you should have any weapons systems in an E.S.G. fund,” he said. The group provides an online tool on the web site Weapon Free Funds that enables investors to screen mutual funds and exchange-traded funds on this issue.
Already, ESG stocks have been outperforming vanilla military stocks, but that could easily change should regulators make one modest tweak to European rules.
They acknowledge that E.S.G. investing has become a big deal in the United States and, even more so, in Europe. And they say that stocks that are identified as E.S.G. or green — those of companies with relatively low carbon emissions — are trading at a premium. They were unavailable for an interview, but in a series of research notes and in a conference call with clients since Feb. 1, they noted that with the rise of the E.S.G. movement, military contractors have fallen out of favor with many investors, particularly in Europe.
They would like that to change, in part through a technical measure: by labeling military contractors as E.S.G. compliant in the European Union’s so-called taxonomy regulations, which aim to be “a gold standard” in guiding private and public investors. Those regulations have already been the subject of fierce debate because of a decision to label some nuclear power and natural gas plants as “transitional” green investments.
* * *
A Cautionary Tale
Of course, including weapons stocks could risk rendering the ESG label meaningless, putting the overall trend at risk. NYT’s sources cited Raytheon, the massive defense contractor, as an example: how could a company like this – which manufactures weapons used by the Saudi government in its proxy war in Yemen – be considered “socially responsible?”
One example might be Raytheon, an important US military contractor, he said. Raytheon is a major supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia, which used them to bomb civilians in Yemen, The New York Times has found. “That might not bother some people who are committed to sustainable investing,” Mr. Hale said, “but it will bother a lot of them.”
As Hale said, it’s a “slippery slope”.
At a certain point, he said, when you start labeling things like weapons as “sustainable investing or socially responsible investing or E.S.G.,” you will find that you are on “a slippery slope,” he said.
“Virtually any business or industry can concoct some rationale for what they do and call it sustainable and make an argument to include it in a taxonomy or category or what have you.”
For example, if black becomes white, and up becomes down, then what’s the point of even having labels anymore?
Labeling military spending as socially responsible “threatens to make all your labels meaningless.”
Tl;dr…
“Defence stocks are ESG”😂 https://t.co/SQray097oJ pic.twitter.com/UMKvW3TcZq
— Misha Saul (@misha_saul) March 8, 2022
Is there nothing that isn’t just utter propaganda any more?
Labeling military spending as socially responsible “threatens to make all your labels meaningless.”
Another scam that people will follow because the media tells them to.
‘Labeling military spending as socially responsible “threatens to make all your labels meaningless.”’
Too late. Already meaningless.
This idiocy is playing a big role in the Ukraine fiasco right now. Germany shut down their coal and nuclear power plants as part of a “green” initiative. Once they figured out that they couldn’t power the entire country on wind power, solar power and unicorn farts, they simply decided that natural gas is a “green” energy source.
That’s how they ended up relying so heavily on Russia for natural gas.
Apparently, Fiduciary Responsibility is over-rated. The point of Business is simply to make you feel good about yourself. I guess.
Then pour the label on everything. They can have their moral superiority complex and we can laugh at them. They are fools.
(Environmental, Social And Governance)
Thanks
There is a constant attack on Western civilization. It is funded by our enemies and as long as there is funding, there will be some useful idiot working on the other side. Back in the ‘80’s the project I was working on got a courtesy briefing by the FBI I suspect they wouldn’t be able to give today. They showed us photos of cancelled checks all from the same account. These were written to any individual or group that made the papers on the subject of gay marriage, changing anti-gay laws, environmental groups opposing power projects or defense initiatives, etc. The account was traced to a Soviet embassy employee. I assure you any group opposing, say, fracking, will get similar support from OPEC countries, Russians, Chinese, etc.
Every military contract I worked on had a plethora of Green idiocy issues like supporting “sustainable” fuel, doing way with cadmium or chromium plating, etc. This is because the company had to get a senator’s vote on whatever the item was. Thus, this Green or Social idiocy leaks in at the edges of everything.
Old Bill Evans records.
And so the Air Force pays 40.00 per gallon for “green” jet fuel that gets mixed with fuel, chrome lining goes away and barrels rust, enviro concerns close ranges when the turtles mate, ....
1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
5,6. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord
with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We are finished.
Best answer ever.
War is Green.
Poverty is Joy.
1984 was not supposed to be a training manual.
Good quotes from Sun Tzu.
Russia, China and Iran are all far superior to the US and Western Europe by those Sun Tzu metrics.
While our vaunted Ukraine sent 10% to the big guy.
bmp
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