In May, electric-vehicle maker Tesla was removed from the S&P 500’s ESG Index. In response, CEO Elon Musk tweeted that ESG was “a scam” that had been “been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.”
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Tesla chief Elon Musk may have misunderstood the meaning behind ESG (environmental, social, and governance), according to the CEO of Clarity AI, a tech firm specializing in the provision of software to assess sustainability.
In an interview last month with CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” Rebeca Minguela spoke of the confusion surrounding what ESG actually means.
“Many investors believe it might be only focused on climate impact,” she said. “Not just ‘many investors’ — even Elon Musk tweeted about it.”
In May, electric-vehicle maker Tesla was removed from the S&P 500’s ESG Index. In response, Musk tweeted that ESG was “a scam” that had “been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.”
The same tweet also noted that ExxonMobil was “rated top ten best in world for environment, social & governance (ESG) by S&P 500, while Tesla didn’t make the list!” The oil and gas supermajor is listed as one of the “Top 10 Constituents by Index Weight.”
Like its CEO, Tesla has also weighed in on the increasingly charged debate on ESG. In its Impact Report for 2021, it said: “Current ESG evaluation methodologies are fundamentally flawed. To achieve acutely-needed change, ESG needs to evolve to measure real-world Impact.”
“Current environmental, social and governance…
