States across America approved 32 bills this year dealing with environmental, social and governance investing, a decline from the 45 legislative acts passed in 2023 but still well ahead of the 17 in 2022, 13 in 2021 and three in 2020, according to an analysis this week by Ballotpedia.
Not surprisingly, states that had a Republican “trifecta,” where the GOP controlled the governorship and both state houses, passed laws that opposed ESG investing in one form or another while states with a Democrat trifecta enacted legislation supporting ESG initiatives, Ballotpedia found.
The score: 17 restrictive bills from the Republicans and eight positive laws from the Democrats. The remaining seven laws that passed were either voted on in a politically divided state or fell outside the scope of Ballotpedia’s ESG bill analysis.
Here is Ballotpedia’s breakdown of the results:
Twenty-three states currently have Republican trifectas and 10 enacted legislation opposing ESG. In those 10 states:
- Five passed anti-discrimination laws prohibiting banks and government agencies from using ESG scores (also known as social credit scores) to determine individual or business eligibility for financial services.
- Four passed sole fiduciary laws prohibiting or discouraging officials or advisers managing funds on behalf of a state from considering ESG factors in public investments (like pension funds).
- Four passed anti-boycott laws prohibiting the state from contracting with or investing in companies that intentionally boycott certain companies or industries without a business purpose.
- Two passed public disclosure requirement laws requiring additional transparency on the ESG policies, investments, and considerations of state investment boards and other government agencies.
Seventeen states have Democratic trifectas, and four passed laws supporting ESG. In those states:
- Two enacted non-financial criteria consideration legislation requiring or allowing public fund managers to consider ESG data and other non-financial criteria in their investment strategies.
- One enacted industry divestment legislation prohibiting public investments in companies or industries that the state government considers environmentally or socially harmful.
- One enacted legislation requiring ESG criteria in state contracts.
- One enacted corporate disclosure legislation requiring corporations to disclose certain types of ESG data, such as net emissions from business operations and climate-related risk factors.
Ballotpedia defines ESG investing as an asset-management approach that considers environment, social issues, and corporate governance practices. It’s a type of stakeholder investing which says shareholder returns should not be the only goal. Stakeholder investing contrasts with traditional approaches that exclusively consider financial factors like balance sheets, income statements and valuations to maximize risk-adjusted returns (also known as shareholder investing).
To learn more about ESG and commonly considered investing factors, click here.
Read more: Investors intend to increase their ESG allocations, but returns and risks remain concerns
