ESG is PR Spin and Marketing Hype

Blackrock’s former sustainable investing CIO Tariq Fancy writes in USA Today Op-Ed that Wall Street is greenwashing the financial world, making sustainable investing merely PR, which is a distraction from the problem of climate change-

• In many instances across the industry, existing mutual funds are cynically rebranded as “green” — with no discernible change to the fund itself or its underlying strategies — simply for the sake of appearances and marketing purposes. In other cases, ESG products contain irresponsible companies such as petroleum majors and other large polluters like “fast fashion” manufacturing to boost the fund's performance.

• As disheartening as this reality is, claiming to be environmentally responsible is profitable.

• When I left the industry in late 2019, I was frustrated by the lack of any real change. But I took some comfort in believing that if we weren’t doing as much as we could, at least we weren’t doing any harm. Since my departure, I have had a lot of time to think about this issue, and I’ve reassessed my opinion. I believe we are doing irreversible harm by stalling and greenwashing. And all in the name of profits.

• We’re running out of time and need to accept the truth: To fix our system and curb a growing disaster, we need government to fix the rules.

• Also, as a response and an opposing view, have a look at the push-back from Responsible Investor's co-founder Hugh Wheelan.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/03/16/wall-street-esg-sustainable-investing-greenwashing-column/6948923002/ & https://www.responsible-investor.com/articles/blackrock-s-former-sustainable-investing-cio-tariq-fancy-is-totally-wrong-that-esg-is-spin-and-marketing-hype