One of the newest fads on Wall Street these days is called ESG.
According to Market Business News: “ESG stands for Environmental Social and Governance, and refers to the three key factors when measuring the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment in a business or company. Most socially responsible investors check companies out using ESG criteria to screen investments.”
Of course whenever you get some sort of social acronym, the first thing you think of is who wants to control what.
In this case, it is Wall Street billionaires coupled with the globalists who see lots of money if they can feed people what they want to hear and funnel some government cash into their own coffers.
Last week Elon Musk, who practically created the EV market, pointed out what a scam it was. It seems that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) was kicked off both the S&P’s and Dow Jones’ ESG Indexes.
However, ExxonMobile and five other oil companies were added. Don’t get me wrong, I love oil companies — especially in this environment. In fact, as soon as I heard of the ESG concept, I started looking for an anti-ESG fund, and in fact, there are a number of these in the works.
The point of a free market coupled with a fiduciary duty to shareholders means that the market determines winners and losers, not some unelected government bureaucracy like the SEC or Wall Street monopolists.
The SEC floated the idea that companies should disclose their ESG intentions in their earnings reports. This is a bad idea.
A CEO and their board should put investors first, not some hackneyed political fad. That is the law, despite all the do-gooders and their misallocated funds and unintended results.
Texas Strikes Back
So I was happy to hear when Texas Comptroller Glenn Hager asked 19 financial companies, including the world’s biggest asset manager and top U.S. banks, whether they are boycotting the fossil fuel industry.
“A company that fails to provide clarification 60 days after receiving this letter will be presumed to be boycotting energy companies,” Hager said.
Knowing what side their bread is buttered on, twenty companies have already responded to the letter declaring that they would still invest in oil.
Bloomberg reported that JP Morgan Executive Vice President Stacy Friedman wrote, “We would like to note at the outset that we provide financial products and services to many companies that engage in the exploration, production, utilization, transportation, sale, or manufacturing of fossil fuel-based energy (“energy companies”), and intend to do so in the future.”
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Davos Hypocrisy
Right now billionaires, bureaucrats, and other so-called elites are having their annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the global economy, make deals, and promote their climate change agenda.
The Cessna Citation XLS burns 189 gallons of aviation fuel an hour. A three-hour flight produces 11.3 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. That’s about 1.2 tonnes per passenger. There is no word on whether or not they stir their drinks with plastic straws.
Someone once said that everything is a racket and everyone is a prostitute. And in some ways, that’s true. I know I’ll start believing what they tell me about global warming when the people who are telling me start acting like it is true.
Meanwhile, I will invest in companies that believe in returning cash to shareholders.
Gasoline is pushing $8 a gallon in California. Many people are switching to EVs. But 60% of electricity in the U.S. is created through burning hydrocarbons. Coal is used in 22% of U.S. based power plants.
Over the last two years coal was among the best performing sectors. Thungela Resources (OTC: TNGRF), a South African coal producer, went from $1.90 to $17.70.
Major holders in TNGRF include Vanguard, Schroders, and BlackRock. All three of these companies flew representatives to Scotland, presumably on private jets, and signed the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, meaning they are committed to zero emissions by 2050, if not sooner.
They are also major promoters of ESG investing.
All the best,
Christian DeHaemer
Energy & Capital
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