Move over Shark Week, July is ESG Month

investmentnews.com:

House Republicans are about to start an anti-ESG blitz that has been given its own month — a campaign that will test the party’s resolve and patience on the subject.

The recently dubbed “ESG month” is attributed to Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., who coined the term in light of at least six hearings, as well as additional bill markups, that are slated for the coming weeks.

It certainly lacks the entertainment value of Shark Week, which is running concurrently. But it represents a culmination of conservative fervor about the roles that environmental, social and governance data should — or more likely shouldn’t — play in investing. The GOP will, if nothing else, be sinking its teeth into the issue.

And serendipitously or not, the spate of hearings is kicking off after a week that included four straight days that on average were the hottest ones recorded on Earth, a result that climate scientists have linked to global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

The hearings are coming just after several members of Congress again bombarded the usual suspects list of asset managers about ESG. This week, Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan, along with Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Dan Bishop, R-N.C., sent letters to the firms, asserting that net-zero climate emissions goals could lead to anti-trust claims, according to Bloomberg.

Three events slated for next week by the House Financial Services Committee include a hearing examining ESG broadly, as well as two subcommittee hearings about proxy voting and proxy advisors. There’s an additional hearing next Thursday and two on the July 18 that involve the Housing and Insurance, Capital Markets and Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy subcommittees. A markup of at least four bills