Here’s one way to solve the ESG culture wars with red states

By Trey Thoelcke Updated Sep 29, 9:50AM EDT · Published Sep 29, 4:11AM EDT

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Here’s one way to solve the ESG culture wars with red states — © Joe Raedle / Getty Images News via Getty Images

(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — The culture wars have taken on a new enemy — ESG investing.

I’m referring to the efforts in more and more states to prevent managers of their state pension systems from taking “ideological” considerations such as ESG into account. Florida was the most recent state to adopt such rules, requiring that pension fund managers’ investment decisions “be based only on pecuniary factors” with the goal of maximizing investment return.

In announcing the new rules, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared: “Corporate power has increasingly been utilized to impose an ideological agenda on the American people through the perversion of financial investment priorities under the euphemistic banners of environmental, social, and corporate governance…”

The problem with Florida’s and other states’ similar proposals is that there’s no surefire way of knowing whether a manager is violating them. Consider the following three hypothetical situations:…

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.