In brief: West Virginia gets ‘serious’ about rolling back ESG momentum

State treasurer Riley Moore has written to six financial institutions to warn them: stop boycotting fossil fuel investments or you won't do business with us.

We will be keeping an eye on developments in West Virginia and beyond, where state treasurer Riley Moore has written to six financial institutions (BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo) to tell them: renounce any fossil fuel-related boycott, or risk being ineligible to do business with the State of West Virginia.

In a statement issued Monday, Moore said: “Earlier this year our office proposed, and the legislature passed, Senate Bill 262 to push back against unfair discrimination against our coal, oil and natural gas industries by the financial sector as part of the so-called ‘environmental, social and governance’ or ‘ESG’ investing movement. We’ve now demonstrated we are serious about enforcing this law.”

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