West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore on Ending Contracts with Companies Adopting ESG | TEASER

“There's a big game kind of going on here, but they're making a killing off of these ESG products. And why are they able to do that? Well, they're charging you a little bit more to make you feel better, and you're doing something about the environment. … But they're raking it in.” ESG stands for ‘environmental, social, and governance:’ a collection of corporate performance criteria that exist outside of fiduciary responsibility. Money managers such as Blackrock, arguably ESG’s biggest champion, are increasingly using them to determine investment. Riley Moore, treasurer of the state of West Virginia, sees ESG as a destructive force. He is leading a movement of state governments that are terminating contracts with companies that adopt ESG policies, and blocking them from bidding on them. “For us here in West Virginia, it is something that would ultimately destroy our economy, our people and our way of life,” Moore says.