Lawmakers score political points with anti-ESG laws. Taxpayers, teachers pick up the tab. | Opinion
By Chris Hollins, Houston’s city controller, Houston Chronicle
As the Houston city controller, I am charged with managing our city’s investments. I’m the taxpayer watchdog, and I take spending Houston taxpayers’ money very seriously. That’s why, when people who live in an entirely different city pass policies that increase costs for Houstonians, jeopardize workers’ hard-earned retirements and force the city to spend more than what is necessary, it’s a little irritating.
In recent years, many Texas lawmakers have crusaded against ESG investing. The acronym stands for “environment, social and governance.” Also known as “sustainable investing,” ESG is shorthand for a standard that considers, as part of a long-term investment strategy, a company’s environmental and societal impact.
ESG favors sustainable energy, which means that oil and gas interests are opposed to it. Anything that supports the competition isn’t good for their wallets. So in turn, those oil-and-gas interests donate to the campaigns of lawmakers who oppose ESG.
The lawmakers cast ESG as “woke” investing, and they’ve turned it into a culture-war issue. But in fact, their anti-ESG crusade is making it harder for Texas cities and towns to efficiently maintain our infrastructure — meaning that ultimately, they’re saddling their own constituents with higher tax bills.