West Virginia has taken the dramatic move of deeming five financial institutions ineligible for state banking contracts on the grounds that they “boycott” fossil fuel companies. Continue reading

West Virginia blocked five major Wall Street banks Thursday from doing business with the state for pushing a green agenda, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). Continue reading

West Virginia on Thursday morning announced that five major financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, would be barred from doing business with the state because they have stopped supporting the coal industry. Continue reading

Many Americans have a distaste for wokeness — but few may realize that the ideology may soon be invading their retirement accounts and siphoning their taxpayer dollars. Continue reading

Soon after Riley Moore took office last year as the state treasurer of West Virginia, he started to hear disturbing things from the fossil-fuel industry in his state. Coal and gas operators told him they were struggling to get loans from banks and other lenders, and that they were worried about being shut out of the financial system altogether. Continue reading

Heading into the hotly contested midterm elections, the American political right has a new rallying cry: Down with ESG. Continue reading

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republicans are coming out swinging against Wall Street's growing efforts to consider factors like long-term environmental risk in investment decisions, the latest indication that the GOP is willing to damage its relationship with big business to score culture war points. Continue reading

Republican-led states are pushing back against firms that try to curb use of fossil fuels. Pressure has been building on companies to follow environmental, social, and governance standards from both the private sector and the government. Because much of that pressure involves businesses' handling of carbon emissions and the fossil fuel industry, policymakers in some oil- and coal-heavy states are actively working against major investors and businesses, a trend worth noting ahead of Earth Day this Friday. Continue reading

Riley Moore is the state treasurer of West Virginia. A Republican elected in 2020, Moore has become a leading voice against financial firms’ factoring climate risk into lending decisions. He leads a 15-state coalition that is fighting back against the divestment movement. West Virginia earlier this year became the first state to pull out of an investment fund because of a net-zero commitment when it withdrew from a fund managed by BlackRock Inc. Continue reading

The West Virginia legislature recently passed a bill that would allow the state treasurer to restrict the state’s business with financial institutions that adopt corporate policies to cut off financing for the coal, oil, and natural gas industries. Continue reading