Why would any large corporation risk losing its customer base to go woke? It seems to make no sense, but when you understand the incredible power behind the social credit scoring system of ESG and CEI scoring it all becomes clear. It’s important for us to also understand that the impact of this form of economic extortion doesn’t stop with large corporations; it also affects education, local governments, and small business, not to mention increasing the cost of everything we buy. Fortunately, people are waking up and there are things being done to push back. The Mom and Pop Alliance of SC (www.momandpopalliance.org) has been working tirelessly to educate small business owners, legislators, and citizens throughout SC about the devastating effects of ESGs. We were responsible for the first bill introduced in our State House pushing back on the evil genius of ESGs.
Instituted by global entities such as the UN, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Economic Forum WEF (among others), ESGs are a social credit score (a “woke score” if you will) that measures the following 3 areas: Environmental (climate change), Social Justice, and Governance. In addition, there is a lesser-known form of scoring, introduced by the non-profit Human Right Campaign called the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which exclusively measures LGBTQIA+ issues. The Human Rights Campaign has experienced tremendous success using social media and mob-pressure to ensure compliance. They constantly move the goal posts, so companies continue to jump through ever more outrageous hoops to stay in the good graces of the activists to obtain good CEI scores. Think Target and Bud Light.
Like CEI, ESG scoring is also not consistent, so what gives a company a good score on one day may not be enough the next day. Of course, there are efforts to standardize ESG scoring, but so, far a consensus has not been reached. Imagine the power in getting to determine what ESG criteria will be for the entire globe. Talk about being king of the world!
Before we dig deeper, I think it’s important to understand the bigger picture of what we are living through right now. While many attempt to frame it as a left vs right or red vs blue, I believe we are actually experiencing a clash between two world views: those who support DECENTRALIZED decision-making versus those who believe CENTRALIZED decision-making is best. Decentralized decision-makers believe in individualism, free markets, equality, self-government, Federalism, etc. Most small business owners fall into this category. Centralized decision-makers lean toward utopian ideals, they believe people are ignorant and need experts to guide them, they believe in institutions, and in social equity. In short, they follow a Plato-like philosophy – THE (smart and selfless) FEW SHOULD RULE THE MANY.
It’s also important to understand what equity means. Equity is VERY different from equality. Equality is something to strive for: equal opportunities for all. By contrast, equity is about EQUAL OUTCOMES, so someone gets to decide what needs to be done to make things fair or equitable. Inevitably, that means discriminating against one person or class to give to another to make things even or “equitable.”
While some companies are true believers in the woke agenda pushed by ESGs, most are just being extorted to comply. Businesses are compared and contrasted against each other, and the pressure to maintain a high ESG score is intense! For example, a low ESG score can put a corporation at risk of losing permits, government contracts, etc. But it’s not just governmental pressure; big banks and investment firms such as BlackRock, State Street and many others also put the squeeze on by harnessing the power of proxy votes and threats of pulling their investments. Non-compliance can result in a loss of banking services or being dropped from investment firms, causing a company’s stock to crater. Add to this the many well-funded non-profits such as As You Sow also using proxy voting to take over corporate boardrooms and you can see the power imposed. Clearly, companies are in a tough spot. That is why 82% of large corporations have signed on and most post their ESG scores online.
Another big part of ESG is Diversity Equity and Inclusion or DEI (I know, the acronyms seem to be never ending). DEI is touted as a way for corporations to create a warm, welcoming, and inclusive workplace. Social, financial, and political pressure along with slick marketing have caused most large companies to get on board with DEI. With ESGs and DEI a new cottage industry has emerged. There is a significant amount of money to be made in ESG compliance. The world’s largest accounting firms are of course supportive of ESGs, given all the new business it will bring them in “helping” businesses to stay compliant. Add to this the money being raked in through DEI training classes and the “needed” continuing education classes to keep corporate attorneys and HR professionals up to date on all things ESG, and you can see how many would not want this gravy train to pump the brakes in any way.
Through ESG and CEI scoring, social and political agendas can now be implemented quite efficiently. Things that would never be popular in the voting booth are now achievable. For example, they can mandate an ever-changing green agenda, or determine that it hurts a company’s score to offer any financial services to gun stores or Christian-owned companies. The possibilities are endless! The (evil) genius of ESGs is that they upend free markets AND accomplish an end-run around representative government, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Additionally, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training promoted by ESGs replaces meritocracy by focusing on things like race and gender rather than character and ability.
How can ESGs mandated by the UN and the WEF possibly affect a small business in SC?
ESGs require large corporations to obtain ESG criteria from all their vendors upstream and downstream, i.e., from whom they buy and to whom they sell. To better understand this, let’s examine a hypothetical example. Let’s say you own a family-run landscaping company in Myrtle Beach, and you maintain the grounds of a large international hotel chain. It would be in the best interest of that hotel chain to have high ESG and CEI scores so that they don’t risk losing contracts for conventions from the government and large corporations. To maintain these large convention contracts the hotel would be required to collect ESG information on each of their vendors, including the locally owned landscaper. A small business owner who decides not to comply with the ESG reporting criteria would be at risk of losing that account, and as such be very motivated to comply.
South Carolina small businesses are already starting to be impacted. Actual examples of survey questions sent to small businesses have included:
· Does your company have an environmental footprint determined?
· Does your company have specific targets related to environmental sustainability?
You can quickly see how new political agendas can be pushed through a society very efficiently and how ESG compliance could overburden small business owners.
But it doesn’t stop at business, as the citizens of Greenville recently learned. The City of Greenville, SC has posted a job opening for a DEI officer with a salary range of $86,000 – $121,000, while a posting for a new police officer’s beginning salary is around $47,000. In addition to the DEI officer for the city, both the city government and the city police each have an LGBTQ+ liaison.
There are other concerning changes, such as the Greenville City’s Police Department’s Strategic Plan, which was recently updated such that Strategic Goal #1 is “Supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives.” Astonishingly, “Reducing Serious Crime” was moved to Strategic Goal #2. One can’t help but wonder if this will put the public safety at risk and how many other SC cities are doing the same thing.
It’s important to note that centralized decision-makers also have hopes of ESGs going beyond businesses to the individual level. For example, to keep their scores up, companies would want to attract individual customers who also have high ESG scores, so obtaining insurance or a mortgage might be more difficult for those whose energy use is deemed too high, or who donate to the “wrong” non-profits, or aren’t living a green lifestyle, or a host of other metrics that can be changed on a whim.
By far, the most concerning aspect of social credit scoring is potentially linking these scores to a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). A Central Bank Digital Currency is a government-based form of currency (not linked to a physical commodity) that allows the government to track all spending. Coupled with an ESG score this would give unprecedented POWER TO THE FEW who WISH TO RULE THE MANY.
Most people are shocked to learn that ESGs have been around for almost 20 years. The reason you may not have heard much about them is because, if you shine a light on this issue you put yourself at risk, as the writer of the Dilbert cartoon soon learned after being cancelled in 77 newspapers for posting a cartoon poking fun at ESGs. ESG fallout is not just theoretical; there are many, many real-life stories of companies and individuals negatively impacted by ESG mandates. Entire countries have suffered from their harmful effects, as the citizens of the Netherlands and Sri Lanka can attest. Their leaders signed on with the World Economic Forum’s vision of reducing climate change by banning nitrogen fertilizer and requiring organic farming. The result was skyrocketing prices, and severe food and fuel shortages.
By now, you’re probably thinking, “This is overwhelming! What can we possibly do about it?” A few years ago, when I first started connecting the dots on ESGs/Wokeism and their impact on business I really didn’t think things would come to light in time to make a difference. At that time, it seemed almost impossible given how complex, powerful, and concealed it all was, but that is changing!
So, the answer to the question above, is: A LOT! Thankfully, there is still much we can do on many fronts! Importantly, because much of this is coming through private industry, crafting effective legislation is challenging but it’s not impossible. Our nation is the best equipped country in the world to fight ESGs because our unique form of government gives us additional protections, such as states’ rights, free speech, anti-trust and civil rights laws, and more. All of these make it much harder for what happened to the truckers in Canada to happen here. The solutions to ESGs are multi-faceted and include a 3-pronged approach:
1) Litigation – lawsuits from state AGs, employees, shareholders, etc.,
2) Free markets – building a parallel economy, and individuals voting with their wallets, and
3) Legislation coming from the states.
Of course, federal legislation would be the best way to protect Americans from the devastating effects of ESGs, but Biden vetoed the one bipartisan bill that passed this year to help protect Americans’ retirement accounts, so this must happen at the state level.
This is why the Mom and Pop Alliance of SC has been working diligently to raise awareness and develop legislation on this issue. Several other states have tackled various aspects of ESGs, but by far the most comprehensive comes from Florida. Our state Treasurer (Curtis Loftis) and Attorney General (Alan Wilson) have been very strong on pushing back against ESGs, but I would like to see our Governor and the SC Legislature do more. Last session the SC House passed a very limited ESG bill (H.3690). On the Senate side, Sen. Sean Bennett and others have been doing some good work on ESGs with S.583, but it still needs to be brought across the finish line.
It would be great to see our Governor join 19 other state Governors who have signed on to a multi-state alliance pushing back on ESG (click here for more info). The Mom and Pop Alliance will continue to work to protect our Palmetto State from the devastating effects of the ESGs/wokeism.
These past 3 years have been especially tough on family-owned businesses. Our state’s small business owners need our full support during these very challenging times. Please consider supporting the Mom and Pop Alliance in our efforts to protect small businesses and to promote economic freedom in our great state!