State Financial Officers Foundation launches two anti-ESG organizations (2024)
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The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF)—a nonprofit organization that opposes ESG in state finances, especially among state treasurers, comptrollers, and auditors—last week announced the formation of two new affiliated organizations: SFOF Action and the Public Fiduciaries Network.
SFOF Action is a 501(c)(4), meaning it can engage in political lobbying and political campaign activities:
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SFOF Action is the new 501(c)(4) announced on Tuesday. The group’s executive director, Noah Wall, told the Washington Examiner that the entity has two specific goals: providing a 'full defense' of state treasurers and state auditors who are 'coming under attack' from firms like BlackRock. 'There has been a dramatic uptick in their state-level lobbying, and we believe that’s a direct result of the work that our members and others have done to divest because of their approach to ESG,' he said during an interview Wall also said that the new political arm is focusing on preventing 'the Left' from taking over state financial officer positions. He said that has already occurred at the local and state level with officials like prosecutors and secretaries of state, and that SFOF Action would work to combat any of those efforts.[1] |
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The Public Fiduciaries Network will aim to educate public fiduciaries on ESG considerations in public pension funds and oppose political investing strategies, according to SFOF Executive Director Noah Wall:
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The State Financial Officers Foundation announced on Tuesday a new effort, joined by Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks (R), to push back on the use of pension funds to back leftist political causes. The foundation launched the Public Fiduciary Network, chaired by Oaks, to raise awareness about the use of public pension funds to push politicized Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives. According to the group, there are about 5,000 state and local pension funds across the United States that control trillions of dollars in assets. 'Our goal is to provide education and resources for to them to understand the scope of the problem in the financial industry, the level of politicization of these funds, and to understand very clear ways that they can protect the fiduciary duty with respect to how they’re managing and overseeing these pension funds,' Noah Wall, the executive director of the State Financial Officers Foundation, said at a press conference in Florida.[1] |
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See also
- Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG)
- Economy and Society: Ballotpedia's ESG newsletter
External links
Footnotes
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