Why Companies Are Ditching ESG

Many have started to recognize a need to focus on their core business rather than virtue-signaling.

"Sustainability" investments became popular a few years back.

So-called experts said companies shouldn't just focus on profit. They should put more effort into being "nice."

Funds pushing ESG (environmental, social, and governance) were all the rage.

Giant investment firms like BlackRock pressured companies to hire more women and minorities. CEO Larry Fink announced, "All investments are going to be looked through sustainability."

But "sustainability" is a mostly meaningless word.

Parnassus claimed it helped meet United Nations sustainability goals of "nutrition" and "sanitation" by investing in U.S. Foods and Clorox.

Starbucks phased out plastic straws while adding lids that used more plastic.

BP rebranded itself as "Beyond Petroleum." Wisely, it mostly invested in petroleum.

Former Vice President Al Gore made money peddling climate change hysteria. He created "sustainability investment funds," claiming "sustainability factors…actually enhance returns!"

His funds did enhance Gore's own returns; he made millions. But over the past three years, his "sustainable" fund underperformed the stock market. Recently the fund managers admitted they "made investment mistakes."

Most funds promoting "sustainable investment" did worse than the market.

So, why did trillions of dollars pour into such funds?

"Because of pressures," says Matt Cole, CEO of Strive Investments, in my new video. "Their largest clients are blue states' pension [funds] like CalPERS and the New York pension [fund] who put pressure on them: 'Adopt these agendas or you're going to lose us as your largest customer!'"

CalPERS still brags about "mitigating climate risk" and adding "climate-conscious board members" to Exxon's board.

Presidential Climate Envoy John Kerry pompously bullied banks: "They will invest into climate-related efforts," he intoned.

Today, banks and even BlackRock are running from sustainability nonsense.

"What you're seeing," says Cole, "is ESG funds shuttering at record speed…and they're not apologizing."

Progressives never do.

This fad didn't just hurt investors; it hurt companies that America needs.

America needs high-performance computer chips. Intel was once the leading manufacturer of such chips. But now, even as Congress gives Intel billions in taxpayer handouts, the company is cutting thousands of jobs.

Why? While Intel's competitors innovated, Intel obsessed about "sustainability."

Intel's website lists endless ESG goals like "environmental, health, wellness, and safety programs to care for people and the planet." It even brags about "green software," whatever that is.

That's a lot of energy spent not making the best chip. When companies spend time sucking up to politicians rather than innovating, they often decline. Intel's stock fell 60 percent last year.

Fortunately, today more companies are focusing on basic capitalism—producing better products for less money.

Ford recently announced it will no longer require employees to take LGBTQ advocacy group surveys.

USA Today reports that Lowe's will reduce its participation with the Human Rights Campaign to "narrow its focus to safe and affordable housing."

When I was co-host of 20/20, I wondered what would happen when Disney bought ABC.

Not much changed for a while. But a few years later, after repeatedly rejecting videos I proposed about problems with Obamacare, ABC fired me.

Still later, I laughed as I watched Disney go full woke.

The president of the entertainment content division said, "We have many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories, and yet we don't have enough leads."

Disney's television animation producer added, "I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness."

But many such movies flopped. The Marvels, featuring a Muslim teen and black female sidekick, lost $237 million.

Lightyear, featuring the first same-sex kiss in a Disney-Pixar movie, lost $106 million.

Elemental, featuring a nonbinary character (a lake with earrings), didn't even reach $30 million it's opening week.

Now Disney's quietly scaling back.

More companies have started to recognize a need to focus on their core business rather than virtue-signaling.

"It's the beginnings of an unwind," says Cole, "that I think is going to be critical for us to achieve success."

I wonder why they were so dumb in the first place.

COPYRIGHT 2025 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

Comments

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Al Gore and John Kerry are 2 of the most smugly Idiotic figures ever foisted upon us.

The difference is Gore knows he’s a grifter, he’s like a cult leader in it for the chicks.

Kerry married his wealth and is just a condescending bully who thinks he’s better than the rest of us as a result of marrying another senators rich widow. He’s thinks and acts just like King Charles, too dumb to be bothered to
Learn any of “The Science” dogma they adhere to.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

Kerry is practically‘extraterrestrial’.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

'Why Companies Are Ditching ESG'

Cuz American fascism no longer appreciates that sort of sucking up?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Stossel and Good Liz. Tuccille most of the time. Bragg and Heaton.

The rest are about as libertarian as a taco truck, but much less useful.

[Tiger]

I would say about as libertarian as the IRS.

A taco truck might actually be quite libertarian.

[mad.casual]

No Remy?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Remy is fantastic, but I think of him as an independent. Maybe that's a distinction without a difference. I probably should have included him.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

ENB won’t even get us our sandwiches, which is setting a bad example for Little Emma.

[MWAocdoc]

Although this is a good summary it's not exactly news ... more of a celebration of what the rest of us have been saying for a decade or two. So take the victory lap now. The autocrats will be back again stronger than ever, taking turns with the pendulum swings ... left ... right ... left ... right ...

[TJJ2000]

Only a [Na]tional effort towards a S.o[zi]alist G.overnment E.nvironment will 'save' us! /s
Cause 'Guns' make sh*t! /s

They'll keep re-naming it whatever they have to to keep the 'armed-theft' alive.

[David Emami]

If you want to invest your money in sustainable cruelty-free fair-trade carbon-neutral trans-women-of-color-owned bug-and-plant-based food companies, go ahead. It's your money. Knock yourself out. If you're doing that with money other people have entrusted to you, and they have not clearly and explicitly stated that the goal is other than making more money for them, you have violated their trust and should be sued into oblivion.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

AKA fiduciary responsibility; I personally believe that anyone who knowingly invests in such a scheme, that their virtue [and not monetary ROI] is their own reward [and they are welcome to it].

[MWAocdoc]

For the record, not all funds and fund managers claim to have fiduciary responsibility. Most of them borrow your money to invest for their own profit with no guarantee that you will make any profit at all. Of course, if enough people fail to earn a payout from you, people are not likely to continue with your fund.

[David Emami]

Exactly. And there are plenty of "values-based" funds for all sorts of political, religious (and probably anti-religious), etc. viewpoints. But the directors of a group retirement fund like CalPERS should not be using non-ROI guidelines -- whether ESG or Christian or anything else -- unless the beneficiaries explicitly approve it, via a vote or such, or as an individual choice. It certainly should not be the default assumption, something they need to opt out of.

[LIBtranslator]

Very good points. Bad link, but better than no link since at least faecebook recognizes the poster as real. We don't get much of that around here.

[Truthfulness]

You have no proof that I and many others here are bots.

[Wizard4169]

Bots now? I thought the entire comments section was socks.

[Ersatz]

Bots & Socks ... the store for internet comments sections!

[Wizard4169]

One of the worst parts is the state pension funds mentioned are already badly underfunded and getting anything less than the best returns available is only going to make the problem worse. Since I don't live in any of those states this shouldn't be my problem, but it's far too easy to imagine them begging for (and getting) some kind of federal bailout.

[Minadin]

1. ESG doesn't pay the bills.
2. Recent court cases have found that, for instance, investment instruments like retirement funds that focus on things like ESG and DEI, as opposed to return on investment and their clients' best interests, are in violation of their trust / fiduciary duties.

https://notthebee.com/article/american-airlines-just-lost-a-case-over-their-commitment-to-esg-practices-and-how-it-affected-401ks-heres-why-thats-a-big-deal

[Rick James]

*walking out to parking lot to car at 3am*

*reason just arriving*

Reason: Hello my fellow kids.

[Social Justice is neither]

You can have ESG and a bit of investment today or you can focus on customers today and reap the rewards into the future. There is no "modern audience" clamoring for ESG priorities so you can only have one, choose carefully.

[Rick James]

Disney's television animation producer added, "I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness."

Stossel... I love you baby, really I do, but this leaked zoom call is something like two years old now.

I know when it was being talked about in my circle, it was the stuff of conspiracy theory and often met with, "Uh, why are you so focused on Kultur War hurr durr!"

But still. Welcome... to the party, I guess. Gillespie just got here and brought some Zima that sitting in the corner, we're all kind of out of everything else and most everyone already left. But you're welcome to sit in the bean bag and watch Netflix or something.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Two years ago, you say? Actually than he should be welcoming you.

See: John Stossel | December 8, 2020, Headline: Don't believe the hype about 'socially responsible' investing.

[Medulla Oblongata]

Yeah, but wasn't that just one of the items in a timeline of Disney's descent into full woke madness that Stossel was trying to present? I didn't think he was trying to make it 'news', it was a review.

[Wizard4169]

"Woke" wasn't the problem. The problem with most of the failed shows and movies was they simply weren't very good. They would have flopped just as hard if every last character were totally cis-hetero. Throwing in random diversity won't help much if the story isn't good, and won't hurt anything if the story and characters are actually entertaining.

[Truthfulness]

They were pushing that stuff in several Disney Channel shows before that footage surfaced.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

Years ago, one of the car-rags had an article on Penske's (then) businesses, and included the application form for working at one of his dealerships. On it was the question "What makes someone a good customer?".
Given it was a Penske operation, the answers tended toward 'gotta be a car person', etc.
Nope. The answer was: "They buy a car from us".
First job of any business is to make money for the owners.

[Zeb]

Yep. Good customers are the ones who buy what you are selling.

[NoVaNick]

I would be happy just to not have to look at fat ugly ladies in their underwear anymore in Dove ads. I’ve also noticed that lots of ladies are looking more like dudes in ads, and vice versa.

[Rick James]

In the sidebar of my linked in page, I have one of those stock photo ads with a caption "See who's hiring on LinkedIn with a dude in bright red lipstick. Whatever man.

[AT]

I wonder why they were so dumb in the first place.

Because Leftists never leave their echo chambers. Ever.

EVER.

Disney sincerely believed that's what the American family wanted in its programming (see also Bud Light, Harley Davidson, etc). And then, when they failed, rather than even consider an ounce of introspection, they immediately declared that THEY'RE not the ones who were wrong, everyone else was - usually accusing them of racism, bigotry, or whatever other slurs have completely lost their meaning. See, they genuinely believe that everyone thinks like them. I'm pretty convinced that the NYT/WaPo/MSNBC/The View/etc are the same way. And they are genuinely dumbstruck and flabbergasted when reality comes and slaps them in the face.

But they never second-guess themselves - oh no, that would mean leaving the echo chamber. Instead, they just get mad at reality - and particularly, the real people in it.

And, in the case of movies/television, it's never made as clear as it is in their storytelling. And not just Disney - but Hollywood in general. That's why their settings are all exactly the same. An already perfect protagonist who has no faults fights against railing against the world - because it's the world (or whoever they say is "controlling it") that needs to overcome something, not the protagonist. And maybe every once in awhile they change it up to an anti-hero story which is entertaining and titillating, or a "the bad guy isn't bad he's just misunderstood and honestly kinda sympathetic" to remind us that bad and good have no real meaning.

Because that's their Marxist worldview. They genuinely believe that their farts smell like cinnamon rolls, and then are genuinely shocked when they find out nobody wants to be in the same room with them.

[Rick James]

I wonder why they were so dumb in the first place.

Stossel is great, but he's a pretty stock normie. I don't think he fundamentally understands that The Thing is Never the Thing, the Thing is Always the Revolution.

[SQRLSY]

Close butt no cigar. The Thing is Never the Thing, the Thing is Always Political Power for MEEEE and My Tribe!

Power pigs already IN power are SNOT interested in The Revolution! They might PRETEND to support The Revolution, butt REAL revolution (real "power to the people", especially on an individual-people basis) scares the shit out of those in power! Twat am I gonna do, ass a Power Pig, if The People can decide for themselves? If they can do THAT, they won't NEEEEEED MEEEEE!!!!

[Zeb]

THat's kind of the whole point of Stossel, isn't it? He's the normal guy who feeds libertarianism to other normies in nice, digestible pieces that won't scare too many away. A lot of people aren't ready for The Thing is Never the Thing.

[MWAocdoc]

I will never forget, "Find out which way the masses are moving and put yourself at the head of the movement," from my anti-war days.

[Medulla Oblongata]

The drag queen playing the villian in last Dr Who series:

"When straight fans complain about any kind of progressive step that Doctor Who takes, I just think how ridiculous they seem, because they love this show that’s [run] by a queer writer who is a prolific voice for our generation. The fact that they could complain about it, it’s obviously not your favorite show if something as small as a genderqueer character can shake your foundation of it. I’m so sick of people saying they’re a fan of a show and then getting so irate if it does something you don’t like. It’s still the same show you like, why don’t you listen to it rather than put up your barriers? Why don’t you let your favorite show teach you something new, like it has already done?"

[LIBtranslator]

I'd never heard of ESG before, possibly for lack of slumming. I gather it means Extortion for Sharknados and Girl-impersonators.

[Truthfulness]

Do your research before posting, Hank. You've done no such thing.

[Medulla Oblongata]

I think a lot of people would have just said "Meh." at Bud Light's queer escapade. But when the VP of marketing comes out with

"We had this hangover, I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach," she said.

She said that what she "brought" to the brand was a "belief" that to evolve and elevate means to incorporate "inclusivity, it means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that’s truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men."

[Miss Ann Thrope (She/It)]

Exactly so.

[Truthfulness]

In actuality, that type of marketing only appealed to a niche group of activists.

[Vernon Depner]

People in that bubble around their "niche" have no idea how small their bubble is. They hallucinate that they're mainstream.

[AT]

Yet instead of appealing to women and men, they instead chose to make an overt mockery out of both masculinity and femininity.

And then got mad because their audience wouldn't roll over and accept the ridicule.

[LIBtranslator]

ATF reminds me of this zoo baboon. My dad would make "Ook ook" noises and the ape would screech, howl and hurl itself against the bars in rabid fits of eagerly imagined offense.

[Truthfulness]

Then you need to get an ear check, Hank. Need directions to the doctor?

[Wizard4169]

People constantly spouting bullshit they don't understand (Marxist! Woke! Socialist!) really shouldn't talk about others' echo chambers.

[AT]

Then why are you talking?

[jimc5499]

If I went up to a Company CEO and said "Nice Company you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it." I'd be up on charges of extortion.
When Democrats like Al Gore or John Kerry do it, it's saving the planet.
There's no difference. In 2020 I remember all of these companies bending over backwards to placate groups like BLM. I'm pretty sure that they knew that the fix was in for the election and didn't want the Democrats to say "Nice Company you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it." when they took power.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

I believe most organizations, including whomever is the "smartest person in the room," are primarily acting not out of any real sense of virtue but attempting to avoid any negative fall out. When faced with a wave of pc, they mostly want to get along and not be deemed Nazi etc. Then when the wave subsides [because enough people finally see that the emperor was buck ass naked] they try to find the middle ground and back away from it. It's not about courage, it's just about getting along with the trend du jour and capitalizing on it to whatever extent possible.

[LIBtranslator]

Note to foreign readers: all but one of the anonymous posters above are upset that they cannot have someone with more courage attack queers (or pregnant women, or foreigners) on their behalf. The Libertarian platform says not to attack these people, but God and Allah tell the Ku-Klux Klan and Gee Oh Pee to find a way to attack all who defend the rights of individuals.

[Truthfulness]

Criticism =/= personal attack

Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything. - C. S. Lewis

You truly will believe anything. You are not a libertarian. Godspeed.

[Zeb]

What does DEI have to do with the rights of individuals? It's all about collective, externally constituted identities.

[Wizard4169]

Fundamental misunderstanding and misrepresentation.