Elon Musk goes there:
I am increasingly convinced that corporate ESG is the Devil Incarnate.
And I thought that my view — that ESG is, for the most part, the work of corporatists, rent-seekers (the two categories are not mutually exclusive), anti-capitalists, and dupes — was harsh.
As I note in the latest Capital Letter, NYU professor of finance Aswath Damodaran has recently been writing about ESG or, more accurately, chopping it up into tiny pieces.
His conclusion (but do read the whole thing):
When I first wrote about ESG two years ago, I did so because I was skeptical of the unquestioning belief that people had in its success. I initially believed that it was a flawed concept that needed fixing, but after two years of interactions with people who claim to know the concept really well, but don’t seem to be capable of making solid cases for it, and witnessing its takeover by well heeled entities with agendas, I am convinced that there will soon be room for only two types of people in the ESG space. The first will be the useful idiots, well meaning individuals who believe that they are advancing the cause of goodness, as they toil in the trenches of ESG measurement services, ESG arms of consulting firms and ESG investment funds. The second will be the feckless knaves, who know fully well the void behind the concept, but see an opportunity to make money. I know that those are not edifying choices, but I don’t see any good ones, other than leaving the space completely. Good luck!
Well, if an exorcism will do the trick . . .