Washington Post (December 30)
ESG investing has become a political hot potato in the U.S. New York is considering a motion to shift from BlackRock, which “oversees $42.3 billion in index funds for city pensions” to other asset managers with a more proactive stance on ESG. Ironically, “BlackRock and its leader Larry Fink leaned into ESG during a different political moment. But that changed after Texas passed a law blacklisting BlackRock for its fossil fuel ‘boycott.’”
Tags: $42.3 billion, Asset managers, Blacklisting, BlackRock, Boycott, City pensions, ESG investing, Fink, Fossil fuel, Hot potato, Index funds, New York, Political, Texas, U.S.
New York Times (August 16)
“States have been competing for corporate charters since the late 1800s. The incentives are high: About 30 percent of Delaware’s revenue in 2024 came from franchise taxes.” But Texas has taken things to a new low, with recent legislation creating “a wild west for corporate governance” by helping corporations dodge proxy access. “Corporations incorporated or headquartered in Texas can restrict shareholder proposals to only their largest shareholders… owning at least $1 million in stock or 3 percent of the company.” Texas is also trying to muffle proxy advisors with measures that effectively block them “from siding against management on any shareholder proposal.”
Tags: Corporate charters, Corporate governance, Corporations, Delaware, Legislation, Muffle, Proxy access, Proxy advisors, Restrict, Shareholder proposals, Texas, Wild west
Bloomberg (January 8)
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton dropped his threat to cut off big US banks from municipal-bond deals after a slew of Wall Street firms exited a controversial climate-finance alliance.” Paxton’s approval power over “most public bond offerings” allowed him considerable “influence over which banks can participate in such transactions.” Paxton’s office announced a review in 2023 of financial firms that were “members of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which he has repeatedly criticized.”
Tags: A.G., Banks, Climate, Controversial, Exited, Finance, Influence, Municipal-bond deals, Net-Zero Banking Alliance, Paxton, Texas, Transactions, U.S., Wall Street firms
Institutional Investor (December 23)
“ESG and DEI may be under attack,” but they are unlikely to disappear. “Recent high-profile news like the case led by the Texas Attorney General against BlackRock, Vanguard Group, and State Street Global Advisors… are indicative of the battle taking place across the country.” However, the economic argument for ESG and DEI programs suggests they will persist. Conversely, “restrictive policies at the state or federal level are liable to cost both businesses and investors.”
Tags: Attack, BlackRock, Businesses, Cost, DEI, Economic argument, ESG, Restrictive policies, State Street, Texas, Vanguard
Santa Monica Daily Press (October 12)
The most populous state in the U.S. now has “the lowest per capita rate of new coronavirus cases.” Still, California just topped 70,000 cumulative COVID deaths. This is “the most in the nation, surpassing Texas by about 3,000 and Florida by about 13,000, although California’s per capita fatality rate of 177 per 100,000 people ranks in the bottom third for the U.S.”
Tags: California, Cases, Coronavirus, Covid, Deaths, Fatality rate, Florida, Populous, Texas, U.S.
Houston Chronicle (August 4)
COVID-19 is striking Texas with a vengeance. Every region is expected to “face surges larger than anything seen so far.” The Houston area is expected to break the hospitalization record on Sunday and “the previous record for ICU patients—947 set July 18, 2020—is predicted to be broken Aug. 15.” But “even more alarming,” the surge will “keep climbing sharply,” with 2,000 ICU patients expected at the end of August.
Tags: COVID-19, Hospitalization, Houston, ICU patients, Record, Surge, Texas, Vengeance
Houston Chronicle (July 15)
“The $3.5 trillion budget proposed by top Democrats represents the biggest move yet by President Joe Biden to attack climate change, including provisions such as clean energy standards for power grids, fees on methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, and increased incentives for electric cars.” If enacted, the legislation, “would set in motion a historic shift from fossil fuels and deliver a blow to the oil and gas producing regions across Texas, which have powered the nation’s economy for a century.”
Tags: $3.5 trillion, Biden, Clean energy, Climate change, Democrats, Drilling, Emissions, EVs, Fees, Fossil fuels, Gas, Historic, Methane, Oil, Power grids, Shift, Texas
Boston Globe Times (March 3)
“The president’s timetable” of having enough vaccine for every American by the end of May “provides a bright light at the end of a long, dark tunnel, although he acknowledged that the nation remains in a tenuous situation” as experts “fear a fourth surge of the pandemic, fueled by worrisome new variants, as states like Texas and Mississippi rush to fully reopen.”
Tags: Bright light, Dark tunnel, Experts, Fourth surge, Mississippi, Pandemic, President, Reopen, Tenuous, Texas, Timetable, Vaccine, Variants, Worrisome
New York Times (February 20)
“The nation’s energy delivery system, not just in Texas but everywhere, needs a radical overhaul if it is to withstand future shocks and play the role that President Biden has assigned it in the battle against climate change.”
Houston Chronicle (December 3)
“With record wildfires burning across the West Coast and a record Atlantic hurricane season that pummeled the Gulf Coast, climate change is gaining importance within the Democratic Party…. That leaves Texas Democrats with the unenviable position of having to choose between one of their state’s largest employers and their party’s newly elected leader.” They are “caught in the middle of a climate catastrophe.”
Tags: Atlantic, Burning, Climate change, Democrats, Gulf Coast, Hurricane season, Record, Texas, West Coast, Wildfires
