Consumers’ Research warns banks of potential lawsuits (2024)
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What’s the story?
Consumers’ Research—a group opposing ESG investing—sent a letter to five banks arguing they could face lawsuits for making unrealistic ESG claims. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) recently brought a lawsuit against JBS USA Food Company, alleging the company’s ESG commitments were misleading based on their beef production. The Consumers’ Research letter argues banks that finance food producers could face similar allegations based on their net-zero commitments.
Why does it matter?
Consumers’ Research says consumer costs could rise if attorneys general seek to enforce environmental/sustainability promises in courts.
Read more:
Consumers Research writes:
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Food production and food availability on store shelves are critical issues for consumers. This places a greater emphasis on action taken by the New York Attorney General’s office which highlighted a major risk to companies directly involved in financing and supporting the national food supply chain. Recently, JBS USA Food Company (JBS) was sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James over public ESG statements and sustainability documents. The lawsuit alleged JBS’s public statements and sustainability documents set unattainable goals regarding net-zero emissions—goals that could not be met so long as JBS continued to produce beef products—and that the JBS commitments misled consumers. … Consumers’ Research is concerned that it is only a matter of time before the banks that finance food supply production companies, like Citibank, are subjected to state actions targeting their unrealistic net-zero commitments, as has happened with JBS.[1] |
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See also
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's ESG newsletter
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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