The Energy Absurdity of the Week: Woke ESG Funds Shed $5 Trillion in Just 2 Years

If wokeness is a sickness - and it clearly is - then ESG investing is one of its most prominent symptoms. The religious fervor at ESG investment firms to use their capital to try to force borrowers to toe the line on woke environmental, social and governance matters led them inevitably to discard their fiduciary duties to their investors to maximize returns.

Everyone has known this was the case for years now, but a compliant government regulatory establishment and eager accomplice legacy media establishment have so far ensured there would be no real price to pay for what some believe borders on criminal behavior.

There can be little doubt this woke investing movement has been extremely successful in helping leftist governments destroy their coal economies, stunt the growth of oil and gas, and force the adoption of market-distorting, grid-destabilizing renewable generation. It has undeniably helped enable the implementation of onerous regulatory regimes and formed the basis to enact trillions of dollars worth of renewable subsidy programs around the world.

But as awareness of this racket has risen among the investing public - so much of which stems from individuals’ retirement funds and state pension plans - some have begun to pushback. Public officials in states like Texas and Florida have moved to deny the ability of woke firms like BlackRock and Vanguard to hold positions in state pension plans and more and more individuals like yours truly have ordered investment advisors to studiously avoid putting their retirement funds into any ESG-related mutual funds.

Now, as the Daily Mail reports, the consequences have begun to show up in the amount of capital controlled by such funds.