Trump is back, where should ESG go in the United States?

Future development of ESG in the United States During this year's presidential campaign, Trump expressed his opposition to ESG investment policies. If he succeeds, he may take the following actions:

ESG investment and disclosure On March 6 this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) passed a new rule requiring listed companies to disclose their climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions information. The largest companies are required to disclose climate change information as early as fiscal 2025 and specific information on greenhouse gas emissions as early as fiscal 2026. However, if Trump comes to power, the implementation of this rule may be hindered.

In terms of 401K (a retirement savings plan in the United States), the Labor Department regulations in the Trump era did not explicitly require or prohibit the provision of ESG funds in 401K pension plans, but in fact brought many restrictions to ESG investment.

The regulations at the time emphasized that employers could only consider "monetary return factors" when selecting 401K funds for employees, and classified environmental, social and governance factors as "non-monetary factors", which were subject to many restrictions when investing. If Trump is re-elected, he will continue to hold this view and further tighten restrictions on ESG investments in 401K.

According to an earlier CNBC report: If Trump focuses on ESG-related issues with the SEC in his second term, it may cause trouble for some of the largest investment management companies in the United States, such as BlackRock and Vanguard.

These companies have long offered environmentally friendly investment options to their customers. But in recent years, the mere existence of these options has brought political storms to these companies. This backlash was carefully planned by some of Trump's political allies.

A public school fund in Texas recently withdrew $8.5 billion from BlackRock's management, citing BlackRock's reluctance to invest in fossil fuels. Florida withdrew another $2 billion in 2022, accusing BlackRock of putting ESG above investors.

The governors of both states are politically ambitious Republicans, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas.