Bell Nunnally Partner R. Heath Cheek and Associate Mason G. Jones authored the Law360 article “Tracking the Nascent Anti-ESG Movement.” The piece explores the dynamic of an increased corporate push of environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies meeting resistance in a variety of so-called “red states,” including Texas.
Cheek and Jones note that in 2021, the Texas Legislature passed regulations prohibiting Texas governmental entities from doing business with lenders and companies that boycott businesses in firearms and fossil fuels. In Texas, and similarly oriented states, such pushback “is just the tip of the iceberg,” according to the authors. “The next phase may see anti-ESG legislatures that attempt to grant a private right of action to companies that deal in fossil fuels or firearms that experience discrimination.”
Cheek and Mason go on to look at pro-ESG SEC rules that are still in development, activist investors pushing public companies in anti-ESG directions and close by considering how the U.S. Supreme Court may ultimately have final say on the validity of federal pro-ESG policy regulation.
To read the full article, please click here.