Skip to content
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
Insurance Journal - Property Casualty Industry News

Featured Stories

  • Lemonade Posts Another Quarterly Loss
  • Tesla Must Pay $243M Over Fatal Autopilot Crash
  • Articles
  • Jobs
  • Markets

Current Magazine

current magazine
  • Read Online
  • Subscribe
  • Login
  • Front Page
    • National
    • International
    • Most Popular
    • Magazine
    • Forums
    • Blogs
    • Videos/Podcasts
    • Newsletters
  • News
    • Most Popular
    • National
    • International
    • East
    • Midwest
    • South Central
    • Southeast
    • West
  • Magazines
  • Research
  • Directories
  • Jobs
  • Features
    • Events
    • Forums
    • Market Directories
    • Quotes
    • Polls
    • Rankings & Awards
    • Insurance Giving Back
  • Subscribe

Anti-ESG Movement in U.S. Feeds Anxiety Among UK Investors

By Frances Schwartzkopff | June 28, 2023
Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Article

Investors in the UK are starting to worry that the anti-ESG movement may spread from the US and get a foothold on the other side of the Atlantic.

The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), whose members oversee more than £19 trillion ($24 trillion) and include JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Plc, wants Britain’s government to provide clear guidelines that spell out whether it’s part of an asset manager’s fiduciary duty to worry about risks stemming from environmental damage, social unrest and bad corporate governance.

James Alexander, chief executive officer of the association, said he expects that UKSIF and other investor associations will soon “need to make the stronger public case that actively incorporating ESG considerations — including material social factors — isn’t in direct pursuit of an overt political agenda, but necessary for investors to fulfill their fiduciary duty.”

He’s one of a growing number of financial market participants in the UK and European Union watching developments in the US with a sense of unease. The backlash against ESG led by the Republican Party has shocked the industry, as threats of lawsuits and blacklists hit some of the world’s biggest banks and asset managers. The GOP has dubbed ESG an anti-American movement that puts a “woke” agenda ahead of fiduciary duties.

In the US, there’s evidence that anti-ESG rhetoric has led some financial firms to tone down their commitments to ESG in their conversations with clients. And pension funds have been caught in a long-running battle between the Biden administration and Republicans over whether they’re allowed to take ESG risks into account in their investments.

There’s so far little to suggest that similar levels of hostility toward ESG are brewing in Britain. But a few isolated incidents stand out.

During a speech to the UK House of Commons in October defending the right of police to treat Just Stop Oil protesters as criminals, Home Secretary Suella Braverman adopted rhetoric that was straight out of the GOP playbook, as she assailed the “tofu-eating wokerati” that she said dominate the left wing of British politics.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman blames travel “disruption” on Labour and Lib Dems before calling them “Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati.”
Latest politics news 👉 https://t.co/WEhNODDsER pic.twitter.com/kiJgF67Kpo
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 18, 2022

And then in March, the UK government said it “believes it is important that the ESG agenda isn’t side-tracked by political activism or political agendas” that might steer money away from industries such as weapons.

Concerns that defense companies risk being underfunded due to ESG priorities prompted UK officials to schedule a meeting on Wednesday with the investment and defense industries, according to a report by Sky News.

“Skepticism of ESG can and has, in limited cases, spread to the UK,” and could lead to “something more ominous and obstructive,” said Alexander Stafford, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Environmental, Social and Governance. He says lawmakers now need to do what they can to “help to dampen any of the hysteria that might happen to blow over from the US.”

In the US, meanwhile, the anti-ESG movement is starting to bump up against the reality of the law. Of the 165 anti-ESG bills introduced in 37 US states this year, 83 are already “dead,” according to a report published by Pleiades Strategy. “Despite all the hype, the vast majority of anti-ESG bills failed to progress through legislative chambers, including in ten states fully controlled by Republicans,” the study found.

A 2014 decision by the UK Law Commission that spelled out the scope of fiduciary duties has long been understood by investors to imply that ESG factors should be included when they are “financially material.”

Yet as recently as October, a report by the Principles for Responsible Investment found “many” investors in Britain still hesitate to set sustainability impact goals, “even when this is required to achieve financial objectives.”

The UK investment industry needs “further clarification” from the relevant authorities around how ESG factors and impact should be interpreted to fulfill fiduciary duties, Alexander said. In some cases, investors may need regulatory support “to minimize possible liability risks,” particularly around climate transition plans, he said.

A recent survey from the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association shows that its members want the government to do more to address ESG. While there are initiatives under way to tackle concerns around ESG indexes, ratings and data, a number of key areas have yet to be taken on.

“The PLSA has been calling on the government for some while to progress and finalize the UK green taxonomy and to ensure climate reporting is embedded across the investment chain so there is a more consistent basis for asset owners to assess the ESG credentials of a given fund or equity,” Joe Dabrowski, deputy director of policy at the PLSA, said by email.

For now, he said members “worry that climate solutions may have been deprioritized amidst the cost of a living crisis and market volatility.”

–With assistance from Gautam Naik.

Photograph: Suella Braverman, UK home secretary, arrives for a weekly meeting of cabinet ministers at 10 Downing Street in London, UK, on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Photo credit: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

Topics USA

Was this article valuable?

Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.

Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.

Here are more articles you may enjoy.

Progressive Could Soon Breach Excess Profits in Florida Auto, Triggering Refunds
Tesla Must Pay $243 Million Over Fatal Autopilot Crash
Florida OIR Approves 31.5% ‘Catch-up’ Rate Increase for TRUE, Despite Missed Filings
The professional golfer celebrates a hole-in-one with arms raised in victory and joyful expression.From Golf Greens to Sausage Fests: The Wild World of Prize Insurance

Written By Frances Schwartzkopff

More From Author

The most important insurance news,
in your inbox every business day.

Get the insurance industry's trusted newsletter

Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Categories: International & Reinsurance NewsTopics: asset managers, environmental social and governance (ESG) criteria
  • Have a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk@insurancejournal.com
More News
Australia’s Privacy Regulator Sues Optus Over 2022 Data Breach
BHP, Vale Offer $1.4B Settlement in UK Lawsuit Over Brazil Mining-Dam Disaster: FT
Digging Into Tesla’s Liability in Crash Case: Where’s the Data?
Surplus Lines Sector Shows 13.2% Rise in Premium Mid-Year: WSIA Report
More News Features

Read This Next

  • Anti-ESG Movement in U.S. Feeds Anxiety Among UK Investors
  • Allstate Q2 Income Eclipses $2B as Auto Turns in Combined Ratio of 86
  • Travelers Q2 Net Income Soars on Less Losses, Favorable Reserves
  • Demotech's Petrelli Responds to WSJ Article. Others Say it Echoes Old Concerns
  • How Employer Value Proposition and Employee Experience Can Boost Recruiting Success

Insurance Jobs

  • Sales Agent - Encino, California
  • Insurance Account Executive/Manager Wanted Flexible Hours, Potential Equity - Dix Hills/Deer Park, NY
  • General Liability Inside Claim Representative - Richardson, TX
  • Commercial Lines Rater – Insurance Company – REMOTE - Remote
  • Commercial Lines Underwriter – REMOTE - Remote
MyNewMarkets
  • DIY Home Inspections Are Taking Over, Firms Say
  • Six Things to Know About Umbrella Insurance
  • What to Know About Construction and Environmental Liability
  • How Embedded Insurance Supports Real Livelihoods in the Growing On-Demand Economy
  • How to Keep Third-Party Events from Becoming First-Party Losses
Claims Journal
  • Lemonade Posts Another Quarterly Loss But Car Growth Continues
  • Missouri's 2025 Insured Losses From Severe Weather Approaching $2 Billion
  • Prudential in $100M FTC Settlement Over Unit's Healthcare Promises
  • Allstate to Pay About $500K on Georgia Claim Highlighted in Hearing, Senator Says
  • J&J Talc Evidence Gets Review by Ex-Judge at Drugmaker Law Firm
Academy of Insurance education
  • August 7 EPLI Basics
  • August 14 Managing and Insuring Reputational Risk
  • August 19 How To Write: Flood
  • August 21 Workers' Comp Crash Course

Insurance News

  • News by Region
  • News by Topic
  • Yesterday

Site Search

Features

  • Insurance Markets Directory
  • Forums
  • A.M. Best Company Ratings
  • Industry Events
  • Agencies For Sale
  • Newswire
  • Insurance Jobs
  • Rankings & Awards

Connect with us

  • Email Newsletters
  • Magazine Subscriptions
  • For Your Website
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Do Not Sell My Info

Insurance Journal

  • Submit News
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Reprints
  • Link to Us
  • Contact Us

Wells Media Group Network

  • Insurance Journal
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
© 2025 by Wells Media Group, Inc. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Site Map