Florida is a circus of the absurd
Florida is a circus of the absurd. In the center ring under the spotlight with a top hat and whip is our governor and with a snap of his whip, the legislature passes bills that restrict and harm us to further his political ambitions.
The press has done an excellent job of covering how abortion has been restricted, gun ownership has expanded, gay rights are being trampled, and higher education has been politicized, but there is another harmful piece of legislation that needs a spotlight on it.
It is the anti-environmental social governance (ESG) investing bill, because it enables an 800-pound chest pounding circus gorilla to charge around Florida, wrecking our homes, businesses and infrastructure. My apologies to gorillas, but I think imaging a rampaging gorilla is easier for some to understand than the ramifications of our warming planet with monster storms, extreme heat and rising seas flooding our streets.
Absurdly, our rights to deal with the 800-pound gorilla, the climate crisis, are disappearing. It started with Gov. Scott who eliminated Gov. Crist’s Climate Action Plan and has expanded under Gov. DeSantis with the 2021 law that forbids local government bans on natural gas and now this bill banning ESG investing by the state.
This is a big mistake. A Forbes article last November, reported that PwC, a large accounting firm, says that “investors globally are embracing ESG investing on a massive scale – seen soaring 84% to $33.9 trillion by 2026”.
So, what the heck is going on in Florida? An article in US Law Week, “Rejecting Climate Change and ESG Risks Breach of Fiduciary Duties”, explained that “at the behest of their fossil fuel backers, Republicans are waging a multifront war to strongarm bankers and pension fund managers into downplaying the financial risks posed by climate change.”
Gov. DeSantis was singled out as using his pulpit to attack ESG investing. It stated that “He apparently sees no relationship between the financial security of Floridians and the mounting risk posed by climate change which is already wreaking physical and financial havoc on his constituency.”
Why would the governor and the legislature do this? The answer, of course, is money and power, and a push from The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which distributed a draft policy to Republicans that bans public pension fund consideration of ESG related factors as inconsistent with fiduciary duty.
The absurdities of this are many, but here are three:
First, this law if it followed the ALEC policy, may have established unworkable legal demands, according to a Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance article, “The Liability Trap: Why the ALEC Anti-ESG Bills Create a Legal Quagmire for Fiduciaries Connected with Public Pensions”.
Second, the state may lose money, as the S&P 500 Fossil Fuel Free Index from 2013 to 2023
outperformed the S&P 500 Energy (sector), demonstrating that fossil “free” investments over the long haul may be a better way to make money. (www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/sp-500/#overview)
Third, you and I are being forced to let that 800-pound gorilla rampage around Florida, in order to help the fossil fuel industry keep making obscene profits and help the governor further his political ambitions.
Only in the circus of the absurd does it make sense to write laws that may be unworkable, lose money, and destroy the livability of the planet for a single industry and the political ambitions of one man.
Tallahassee resident Pam McVety is a retired scientist, climate justice advocate and board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida is a circus of the absurd
