How fossil fuel lobbyists are pushing the right-wing campaign against 'woke capitalism': report

22 June 2023

Among MAGA politicians and right-wing media pundits, the most overused term of 2023 is clearly "woke." Gov. Ron DeSantis brags that Florida, under his watch, is the state "where woke goes to die." And MAGA Republicans typically use the term to attack anything they dislike, be it abortion, gay rights, environmentalism, drag queens, Obamacare, contraception or feminism.

The term "woke capitalism" is heard a lot in right-wing media, typically used to slam companies that reject MAGA ideology in any way. Pleiades Strategy has released an in-depth report citing 165 examples of Republican lawmakers introducing anti-ESG (environmental, social and governance) legislation.

The Guardian's Dharma Noor, in an article published on June 22, explains, "The 165 proposals sought to employ a variety of tactics, ranging from imposing limits on public contracts and restricting pension managers to forcing disclosures and combatting federal investment rules. The researchers examined news articles, fiscal notes and statehouse testimony related to each bill. They found that the majority of them bear strong resemblances to model bills crafted or circulated by four influential right-wing think tanks: the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute and the Foundation for Government Accountability."

READ MORE: What 'woke capitalism' really means

Noor cites the American Petroleum Institute, a fossil fuels lobbying group, as one of the organizations that has "worked to shape anti-ESG policies." And Noor stresses that fossil fuel lobbyists are doing a lot to drive the campaign against "woke capitalism."

According to Pleiades, only 22 of the 165 anti-ESG bills it examined were successful and progressed in state legislatures.

Pleiades Strategy founder Frances Sawyer, who co-authored the report, warned, "The dark-money-funded attacks on the freedom to invest responsibly hit deep opposition from business, labor and environmental advocates in statehouses across the country this year. Our report shows that the effort to weaponize government funds, contracts and pensions to prevent companies and investors from considering real financial risks is not a winning platform.”

Find Pleiades Strategy's report at this link and The Guardian's article here.

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