S&P Global Removes ESG from Debt Ratings

S&P Global removed Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors from its scoring of corporate debt as the financial industry has increasingly soured on the controversial investing scheme.

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ESG has become the latest vector by which large financial institutions push companies to adopt leftist positions such as anti-climate change policies, policies advocating for racial justice, and diversity requirements that they would otherwise not adopt.

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Now, S&P Global will only judge companies’ commitment to ESG based on a text narrative, not score them on a number scale.

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The debt ratings company’s decision to shy away from ESG contrasts with Moody’s, which still scores companies based on ESG factors.

Republican state attorneys general, House Republicans, and conservative groups have increasingly scrutinized ESG.

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Big investors who subscribe to Bloomberg’s terminal product said in a survey that ESG is an underperforming fad.

“ESG has morphed from risk management to political activism for the left,” one respondent said.