Republican attorneys general warned mega proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis on Tuesday that their climate-friendly practices could be running afoul of their fiduciary obligations to clients.
The shot across the bow from 21 Republican attorneys general came in a letter led by Utah’s Sean Reyes, about the firms’ embrace of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing principles. It marked an escalation in the GOP’s war on what it calls “woke” financial decisions based on addressing climate change and other left-leaning issues.
Until recently, the anti-ESG action taken by Republican-led states has largely focused on big banks and behemoth financial institutions like Vanguard and BlackRock.