fter decades of celebrating liberal activists for exerting pressure on corporations to end racism, clean up the environment, support abortion rights and “voting rights,” the media is now panicking over belated counter-actions by conservatives against such corporate activism.
A New York Times front-page story Friday by environmental beat reporters David Gelles and Hiroko Tabuchi laid out the accusation in the headline: “G.O.P. Weaponizes Statehouses Against Green Corporate Goals.” Liberals apparently don’t “weaponize” against free markets.
An online headline writer chose the term “punished”, as “How an Organized Republican Task Punishes Companies For Climate Action.”
They started with examples, including the state of West Virginia, which pulled money from proudly “woke” asset manager BlackRock for tagging climate change as an economic risk. The reporters warned “Conservative lawmakers in 15 other states are promoting similar legislation.”
Although it may be strange for mainstream journalists that they would fight alongside the largest financial manager in the world ($10 trillion of assets under management), here we are.
Republican legislators across the country have joined forces with their allies to launch a campaign to limit what they consider activist companies seeking to decrease the harmful effects of greenhouse gasses that are heating our planet.
Liberals are often portrayed as the victor when they force corporations to comply with their will, while conservatives are considered as those who resist.
Moore and other climate scientists have moved the issue of climate change out of the scientific realm and into political debates about topics such as voting rights and abortion. issues. In recent months, conservatives have moved beyond tough words and used legislative and financial leverage to pressure the private sector to drop climate action and any other causes they label as “woke.”
“There is a coordinated effort to chill corporate engagement on these issues,” said Daniella Ballou-Aares, chief executive of the Leadership Now Project, a nonprofit organization that wants corporations to address threats to democracy. “And it is an effective campaign. Companies are starting to go into hiding.”
….
After years of boasting that financial professionals were prioritizing pure profit over environmental, social, and governance issues (also known as ESG), these efforts are now possible.
That activism has often put companies at odds with the Republican Party, traditionally the ally of big business….
Even when the reporters acknowledge leftist pressure, it’s couched in positive terms.
Over the last five years, the warning signs that our planet is warming have become more evident. In the form of record-breaking heat, drought, and more severe storms and fires. As consumers and liberal groups have increased pressure to act, corporations are now open to using capital markets and other financial instruments to build a more sustainable economy.….
Notice that Republicans aren’t portrayed positively as trying to save coal or oil jobs but are merely trying to “slow…progress.”
However, Republican legislators are now more organised in trying to slow down corporate progress on climate problems.
Tabuchi had previously linked the oil industry (which she covered) to white supremacy, in a now-deleted tweet that read: “I’ve been thinking a lot about fossil fuels and white supremacy recently. Almost every single oil executive, lobbyist, spokesperson I’ve dealt with is white and male. It’s difficult not to see a link.”
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