- Critics argue that ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing has several drawbacks1234:
- It may not significantly improve companies' actual ESG performance.
- It diverts attention from priorities that align with increased productivity.
- ESG investments may be based on political agendas rather than maximizing returns.
- Some view ESG as a public-relations move or a means to cash in on higher motives.
Learn more:✕This summary was generated using AI based on multiple online sources. To view the original source information, use the "Learn more" links.Investing in sustainable funds that prioritize ESG goals is supposed to help improve the environmental and social sustainability of business practices. Unfortunately, close analysis suggests that it’s not only not making much difference to companies’ actual ESG performance, it may actually be directing capital into poor business performers.hbr.org/2022/03/an-inconvenient-truth-about-esg-in…By diverting attention away from priorities that align with increased productivity and toward a shifting array of inconsistently defined social-impact criteria, the ESG investment movement could be a long-term threat to continued economic growth.reason.org/commentary/esg-investing-is-bad-for-th…Critics say ESG investments allocate money based on political agendas, such as a drive against climate change, rather than on earning the best returns for savers. They say ESG is just the latest example of the world trying to get “woke.”apnews.com/article/what-is-esg-investing-3a98b6f5…Perhaps the most prominent objection to ESG has been that it gets in the way of what critics see as the substance of what businesses are supposed to do: “make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society,” as Milton Friedman phrased it more than a half-century ago.” 11 Viewed in this perspective, ESG can be presented as something of a sideshow—a public-relations move, or even a means to cash in...
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