A state judge recently blocked Oklahoma’s anti-ESG law, marking the latest volley in a multi-year game of political ping pong. Lawmakers in at least 33 states have now introduced anti-ESG bills. In the corporate world, “greenwashing” has turned into “greenhushing,” with mentions of ESG dropping by nearly two-thirds on earnings calls of publicly traded companies in the U.S.
In her injunction, District Court Judge Sheila Stinson found that the anti-ESG law ran afoul of the state’s constitutional mandate that pension funds be managed for the exclusive benefit of the beneficiaries. In other words, subjecting investment decisions to the whims of the culture wars would be bad for the pensioners who rely on returns for their retirement, college funds, and medical bills.
