Tapping into investors’ interest in sustainable and eco-friendly investing, the S&P 500 ESG Index was launched in 2019.first ESG funds, or environmental, social and governance funds, are thought to be those focused on responsible companies and strong environmental ethics, but further investigation revealed that rampant greenwashing has happens, and many ESG-labeled funds are far from “sustainable.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been scrutinizing ESG funds for years, as their popularity skyrocketed. While funds focused on socially responsible investing were valued at $2.83 billion in 2015, that number rose to $17.67 billion in 2019, when Alex Bernhardt, who Head of responsible US investments at investment advisory firm Mercer, told The Wall Street Journal, “In every asset class, in every region, ESG product development is the thing to do right now. hours. “2
Fast-forward to 2022 and the SEC is cracking down on ESG labels, with multiple investigations into Wall Street purging of ESGs by many major banks. Globally, $41 trillion is expected to flow into ESG funds by 2022.3
The credibility of the Mire ESG Murky brand.
One obvious problem with the ESG label is the lack of regulations defining what qualifies as an environmentally or socially responsible company. In 2019, the SEC began sending letters to asset managers asking about what models are used to identify ESG investments.
In 2019, Betty Moy Huber, co-director of the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP of the corporate, social and environmental governance group, told The Wall Street Journal, “This is a relatively new field. Now the SEC is saying, “Wait, how do you know these are ESG products and you don’t have a fossil fuel company with known poor ESG performance in it?”4
S&P and MSCI have established their own rating systems for ESG labels, with controversial methods. For example, an ESG fund can hold up to 20% of their shares in non-ESG stocks, so a “no fossil fuel” fund can actually hold companies that use fossil fuels. jelly.5
As a result, many “ESG” funds still hold large emitters like ExxonMobil and use only slightly less carbon than the market average.6 It wasn’t until May 2022 that the SEC announced plans to develop more rigorous standards for ESG labels.7
SEC follows Goldman Sachs
Following an investigation into Deutsche Bank’s greenwashing operations in 2021 – which led to a raid on the bank’s offices in Germany by German authorities8 — and a $1.5 million fine against BNY Mellon for “errors and omissions in ESG considerations,” the SEC is currently pursuing Goldman Sachs.
In the case of BNY Mellon, an ESG fund consisted of 185 investments, 67 of which did not have an ESG quality score when the securities were purchased, but shareholders have been told that its strategy includes “determining” and consider environmental, social and governance risks, opportunities and issues throughout the research process. “9 But in the case of Goldman, as Quartz reports:ten
“Goldman’s investigation focused on mutual funds. Since there is no legal standard for ESG definitions, the SEC will determine if banks’ actual methods for managing ESG funds differ from what they have disclosed to investors. no, not whether the funds are truly green.”
Goldman manages at least four ESG or “clean energy” funds and renamed its Blue Chip Fund the US Equity ESG Fund in June 2020. According to The Wall Street Journal:11
“Goldman said in regulatory documents that its ESG fund aims to keep 80% of its net assets in stocks issued by companies that meet the fund manager’s criteria. They exclude companies that make most of their revenue from the sale of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, coal, oil and gas, and a number of other products.
Goldman said holdings in the US Equity ESG Fund undergo an ESG analysis but have the right to invest in certain companies without such screening. It can also invest up to 20% of its net worth in stocks that deviate from its ESG standards.”
When the SEC first began scrutinizing ESG labels, it was done through compliance testers, who would refer any concerns to the SEC’s enforcement attorneys. An SEC enforcement task force has been formed in 2021 to further investigate greenwashing related to ESG investment products and the Goldman investigation that could lead to major enforcement action. awake.twelfth
‘The World’s Largest Ponzi scheme’
BlackRock founder and CEO Larry Fink, who is closely related to the head of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Schwab and joined the WEF’s board in 2019, has announced. in October 2021, “Short-term policies related to the environmentalism of limiting hydrocarbon supplies have created energy inflation, and we will have to live with that for a while… We are are in a new mode. “13
On Twitter, Russ Greene wrote, “ESG proponents have sought to portray as a conspiracy theory a link between ESG and higher oil and gas prices, but if so, it is a theory held by many figures. Some of the most successful in the financial industry, including ESG investors, shared, “Refers to Blackstone co-founder Steve Schwarzman, who has said that focusing on ESG is “fueling the crisis.” credit crunch for oil and gas companies”.14
However, the investment firm BlackRock has more power than most governments on Earth, and it also controls the Federal Reserve, big banks like Goldman Sachs and the WEF’s Great Reset, according to F. William Engdahl , a strategic risk consultant and lecturer who holds a degree in politics from Princeton University.15
BlackRock also has ties to Blackstone – the largest landowner in the US as well as the largest real estate company worldwide, with a portfolio worth $325 billion.16 – when Schwarzman and Fink started a business together.17 Engdahl believes that BlackRock can control the world’s economic future, in part through investing in ESG:18
“Fink… is now positioned to use BlackRock’s enormous weight to create what is likely, if it hadn’t collapsed before, the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, ESG [Environment, Social values and Governance] company investment. Linking to $9 trillion for leverage is pushing the largest capital move in history into a scam known as ESG Invest.
The UN ‘sustainable economy’ agenda is being quietly carried out by the same global banks that created the 2008 financial crisis. This time they are preparing for Klaus. Schwab WEF Great Reset by putting hundreds of billions and soon trillions of investments into their hands -selected ‘wake up’ companies, and away from ‘not awake’ companies like oil and gas companies or coal.
BlackRock since 2018 has been at the forefront of creating a new investment infrastructure that chooses “winners” or “losers” to invest depending on how serious that company is towards ESG – Environment, Social Values and Governance.
For example, a company that receives a positive rating for how seriously they hire their gender-diverse management and employees, or takes steps to eliminate their carbon “footprint” by how to make their energy sources green or sustainable for use in UN terms.
The ESG is the most ambiguous about how corporations contribute to global sustainable governance and can include anything from corporate contributions to Black Lives Matter to supporting United Nations agencies. like WHO.
… Oil companies like ExxonMobil or coal companies, no matter how obvious, perish when Fink and friends are now financially promoting the Great Reset or the Green New Deal. “
Elon Musk calls ESG a ‘scam’
In May 2022, electric vehicle maker Tesla was dropped from the S&P 500 ESG Index, despite its focus on creating environmentally conscious vehicles. In in the bottom 25% of the global GICS® industry. teammate. “19
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted in response “@SPGlobalRatings have lost their integrity [sic]“Considering that Exxon Mobil is still listed in the top 10 of the S&P 500 ESG Index.20 Musk tweeted:21
“Exxon was rated by the S&P 500 as the top 10 best companies in the world in terms of environment, society and governance (ESG), while Tesla did not make the list! ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.”
Furthermore, TIME reports, “According to Bloomberg, the world’s largest ESG-focused exchange-traded fund has nearly invested 3.1% of its assets in the oil and gas sector…”22
New control system through resource allocation
ESG is a tactic being used to push the “green” agenda forward. While the concept of a pollution-free world is a fascinating one, ultimately it’s not about the environment – it’s all about creating a control system in which the world’s resources belong. owned by the richest, while the rest of the population can be controlled through the allocation of those resources, including energy. As explained in an anonymous Winter Oak article:23
Under such an economic structure, asset holders can redirect global capital flows by aligning investments with the United Nations SDGs. [sustainable development goals] and configure them to be Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) compliant so that new international markets can be built on the disaster and misery of hundreds of millions of people potentially struggling because of the economic collapse caused by the war.
Thus, the war creates a tremendous impetus for governments to push for a positive reset in the pursuit of energy independence, shape the market towards ‘green and inclusive growth’ and ultimately transform population to a system of limits and trade, also known as a carbon credit economy.
This will concentrate power in the hands of the capitalists involved under the benevolent guise of reinventing capitalism through greener and fairer means, using deceptive slogans such as ‘ Build Back Better’ without sacrificing capitalism’s imperative of perpetual growth. “
The WEF also discusses ESG as part of a “sustainable” resource-based economic system:24
“Digital finance refers to the integration of big data, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile platforms, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in the delivery of financial services. Sustainable finance refers to financial services that integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into business or investment decisions.
When combined, sustainable digital finance can take advantage of emerging technologies to analyze data, make investment decisions, and increase jobs in sectors that support transition. to a low-carbon economy”.
But it’s important to be aware of the downside of depending on dubious labels like ESG, which could eventually force much of the global population, including small farmers, into a form of slavery. new data. According to one of Navdanya’s reports:25
“A global ‘seal of approval’ based on pseudoscience, pseudo-economics that maximizes profits through mining will create a new data slavery for farmers. Instead of using their own heads and creating with the Earth, they will be forced to buy ‘Big Data’. Instead of obeying the laws of Mother Earth, they will be forced to obey the algorithms created by Big Tech and Big Ag.”
