GOP Missive to ESG Practitioners: Real Threat or Political Theater?

On Nov. 3, five Republican U.S. senators sent letters to 51 of the nation’s largest law firms — 33 of them have offices in Texas – warning them of a “duty to inform clients of the risks they incur by participating in climate cartels and other ill-advised ESG schemes.”

The letter, only three paragraphs on a single page, is styled as an unspecific warning regarding a vaguely articulated threat. It doesn’t define or describe what a “scheme” involving environmental, social and governance principles might look like. Nor does it say what, precisely, is objectionable about efforts to defend the environment or democratize corporate capitalism.