Freedom of speech has never been an untrammelled right: you can’t tell lies in a witness box or launch a hate campaign on social media, and you can’t, unless there is one, shout “Fire” in a crowded theatre. But can you shout “Fire” in an empty theatre or embellish the truth in an empty court…is that allowed? Well, sure it is: because nothing spoken (or shouted) means anything if no one’s listening. Which brings me neatly to the human megaphone on Pennsylvania Avenue, ceaselessly barking out bonkers stuff to a threadbare audience: Donald Trump, of course. And he’s not just shouting “Fire” or making free with the facts (well, not all the time anyway)…ever since he reoccupied the White House this year, Trump’s been banging on about ESG’s supposedly detrimental impact on global and domestic enterprise. But does that matter… especially if virtually no one’s listening?
Talking Tosh Loud
By an Executive Order issued on 8 April - “Protecting American Energy from State overreach” (www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04) – the man with the megaphone continued his crusade to make the World (and America) safe from “burdensome and ideologically motivated climate change or energy policies” (peculiar use of the “or” there…I assume he meant “and”). These are the policies that supposedly threaten “American energy dominance” not to mention the “economic and national security of the United States”, and I’m not making that up: the United States will, it seems, be less open to insidious foreign incursions if West Virginian miners are allowed to dig more coal…and Exxon is allowed to turn Alaska into an avatar for the New Jersey shoreline. Who seriously believes Washington will collapse unless a few more truckloads of coal make their way east from Lexington?
Well, nobody, of course…because however loud he shouts about ESG, what Trump is saying is still total tosh (this is no time to mince our words).
And here’s the point…Did you read or pay any real attention to that sad little Executive Order when it was issued more than three months ago? Have you kept a close watch on oil and gas deregulation in the United States since, and, in particular, have you kept tabs on the progressive rolling back of clean energy policies under Trump’s Administration? Be honest now…I’m pretty sure none of us have…or at least not with anything like the level of attention we’ve been giving Trump’s (even more perverse) tariff programme…not to mention his bizarre pronouncements on Ukraine, or his word salads on Jeffrey Epstein. Because when it comes to ESG, the fact is this is a very small audience, so does it really matter what Trump’s been saying?
Well, in a way, yes…it does. It helps give some context to a still-emerging reality.
Corporate DNA
Environmental, Social and Governance (or ESG for short) has been with us for at least the last twenty-one years (way before Trump typed Pennsylvania Avenue into his SatNav)… in fact, ever since the United Nations released its seminal “Who Cares Wins” Policy Paper in 2004 (www.unepfi.org/industries/investment/global). By 2023, ESG was a global investment phenomenon, with more than $30 trillion in assets under management worldwide. Companies were expected to responsibly manage a broad range of environmental, social and governance risks (and opportunities), and if they didn’t, stakeholders and investors, not to mention regulators, would make sure they either changed their ways or looked elsewhere to do business (North Korea perhaps).
In short, ESG has long since been part of our corporate DNA, and whatever Donald Trump mouths into his megaphone, that’s not about to change anytime soon.
Multiple jurisdictions across Europe and Asia are pressing ahead with sustainability planning. For example, the European Union has launched a fresh set of ambitious targets, putting itself firmly on track to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, including a planned 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. More than 52% of European voters believe the protection of our precious Planet is still an overwhelming policy priority (www.euronews.com/2024/03/19/euronews-polls-centre), and, according to a very recent BDO poll, over 75% of Chief Financial Officers still expect their companies to maintain sustainability-centred investment strategies for the foreseeable future (https://www.bdo.co.uk/en-gb).
Those are big, robust constituencies, and what they’re saying reinforces the clear impression that Trump is more or less talking to an empty room. And bearing in mind the significance of the sustainability challenges that still lie ahead, that has to be a good thing. This is no time to be throwing away a quarter century of progress.
Red Ribbon
Red Ribbon, founder of Eco Hotels, is also a pioneer in ESG investment strategies: responsibly managing a diverse portfolio of assets without compromising on sustainability demands, and consistently ensuring positive outcomes for people, planet and profit.
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Red Ribbon Asset Management (www.redribbon.co) aims to harness the full potential of fast evolving and emerging technologies to meet the needs of global communities as part of a circular economy, fully recognising the compelling demands of planet people and profit.
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