Dear John,
I’m writing to update you on the ongoing anti-ESG, pro-fossil fuel crusade and the direct attacks on As You Sow over the past several years. But first, I want to thank you – our community – for the incredible moral and financial support that has enabled us to vigorously defend ourselves. Our legal response and steadfast refusal to compromise our constitutional rights successfully demonstrated our integrity as an organization in the face of an
unprincipled, unlawful anti-ESG crusade. We owe you a massive debt of gratitude for that.
Now, the crusade is increasing its intensity and broadening to encompass a wide swath of the shareholder advocacy ecosystem.
You recall that last year the U.S. House Judiciary Committee launched an investigation of As You Sow and 13 other organizations, demanding we produce a wide range of documents related to our work with companies on climate and declaring that this work violated antitrust laws. In June 2024 the Committee held a public hearing that was commonly regarded as disastrous to its supposed objective of establishing anti-trust violations for climate action.
There’s a link at the bottom of this email to the report from the Committee’s Democratic minority, which concluded the Committee’s investigation was grounded in “an improper purpose to impose a cost on investors and financial institutions that take seriously the threat of climate change and to chill legitimate business activity.”
Now for the update: After June’s public hearing, the Committee sent another round of demand letters – the precursor to investigations – to 130 other organizations, many of them our allies. The new set of targets spans the faith-based investor community, state pension funds, philanthropic foundations, and other shareholders that support the idea that
climate risk is investment risk and companies need to step up with robust transition plans and actions.
Currently there seems to be a lull – perhaps Committee members are consumed with the upcoming election. We are certain, though, that no matter the outcome of the election, the people behind this crusade won’t back off. They’ll escalate.
We know that in part because, in September, the Financial Times published an article focused on Leonard Leo: “Conservative activist launches $1bn crusade to ‘crush’ liberal America.” Leo, the architect of today’s radically conservative Supreme Court, said he has already spent $600 million to suppress corporate accountability work, was now ready to confront the private sector in addition to the government, and is committing one billion dollars to the cause. He plans to “…call out companies and financial institutions that bend to the woke mind virus spread by regulators and NGOs, so that they have to pay a price for putting extreme leftwing ideology ahead of consumers.” He also confirmed that since 2021 he has helped fund campaigns against companies with DEI, ESG, and other initiatives, including BlackRock, Vanguard, American Airlines, Coca-Cola, State Farm, Major League Baseball, and Ticketmaster.
That “extreme leftwing ideology,” of course, is the
fundamental idea that risk matters in investments and in corporate behavior and that climate change is risky.
A billion dollars can wreak a lot of havoc. The clear goal here is to dissuade companies from taking common sense, responsible action and to dismantle the basic right of all shareholders to ask the companies they own to reduce their climate risk – to show those companies, as we do, the benefits and opportunities in pivoting to a clean energy economy.
The crusade’s relentlessness is meant to intimidate investors from asking questions about environmental or social risk, to interfere with the free market, and to limit companies’ ability to take action that will help them retain a competitive edge in the global market. The ultimate effect, of course, is to put all Americans at greater risk from climate impacts and the resulting economic
instability.
While their strategy clearly carries far-reaching destructive impacts, it also affirms As You Sow’s effectiveness and the threat we and our fellow shareholder advocates pose to the fossil fuel industry and the extractive economy. The House Judiciary Committee would not be investigating As You Sow, CalPERS, and BlackRock for “Woke ESG Cartel Climate Action” if shareholder advocacy were not making a significant impact on corporate behavior.
Responding effectively continues to be utterly necessary, extremely challenging, and expensive. But in this time of deep uncertainty, with the most consequential election of our time fast approaching and the distressing specter of the outcome being argued for weeks, one thing IS certain: As You Sow will continue to bring everything we’ve got to the work of holding
corporations accountable and protecting shareholders’ right to encourage the companies they own to take responsible action.
I invite you to reach out for a deeper conversation. In the meantime, we’ll continue to send you updates like this when developments warrant.
As always, we welcome your financial support in continuing the work.
Thank you for standing with us.
For the future, | | | Sarah Milne
Senior Vice President of Advancement | | |
| As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30+ year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas
include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity loss, racial injustice, lack of workplace diversity, and excessive executive compensation. See As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker. | | | As You Sow
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