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Responsible Investing Watch

Responsible Investing Watch

Educating about how the network of anti-ESG organizations are promoting the interests of greedy billionaires.

The truth about self-interested billionaires and their allies opposing responsible investing.

Responsible Investing Watch is committed to showing how self-interested billionaires and their allies are standing against responsible investing practices. We are dedicated to detailing their activities, affiliations, and positions, providing a comprehensive understanding of their impact on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.

Through our research, we empower individuals and organizations to make conscious investment choices, holding accountable those who contribute to environmental degradation.

The Heritage Foundation

The oil-funded Heritage Foundation has been one of the most outspoken opponents of responsible investing principles. They have also promoted an extreme anti-climate agenda that promotes fossil fuels while dismantling government agencies responsible for protecting the environment. 

The American Enterprise Institute

The oil-funded American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and their Senior Fellow Benjamin Zycher have been vocal opponents of responsible investing.

American Council For Capital Formation

The American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) has been a leading opponent of responsible investment initiatives, while receiving funding from numerous companies in the oil and gas industry. 

The Texas Public Policy Foundation

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is an organization that has opposed responsible investing practices, most notably by authoring – at the behest of an oil executive – the Texas law that directed the state to stop doing business with financial institutions that had divested from the fossil fuel industry.

Consumers Research

Consumers Research is an anti-responsible investing organization that has opposed ESG investing and criticized numerous companies for being “woke.” 

The Manhattan Institute

The oil industry-funded Manhattan Institute has been a vocal critic of responsible investment initiatives. 

State Financial Officers Foundation

The State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) is an organization that pushes Republican State Treasurers to adopt anti-responsible investing policies and, as The New York Times wrote, “to use their power to promote oil and gas interests and to stymie Mr. Biden’s climate agenda.”

The American Legislative Exchange Council

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an industry-sponsored organization that fetes conservative state lawmakers and arms them with corporate-friendly and conservative “model bills” to introduce in their state legislatures.

National Center for Public Policy Research

The Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) is a polluter-funded anti-responsible investing organization that files shareholder resolutions opposing corporate responsible governance practices. 

American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce

The American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree Chamber) launched in 2022 to position itself as an alternative to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. While its donors are hidden from public view, the organization routinely advocates on behalf of the oil and gas industry and the people associated with the group have deep ties to the industry.