Ropes & Gray has been actively tracking the various approaches states have taken on how or whether environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors should be applied to the investment decisions for public retirement systems. States have used legislative, administrative and enforcement mechanisms to address this area, which has been complemented by Congressional Republicans’ various attempts to shine a spotlight on ESG in recent months.
The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance published part of a Ropes & Gray white paper that seeks to provide context for understanding what has happened to ESG in the states in 2023 along with considerations that asset managers should be mindful of when engaging with public retirement plans. The column provides an overview of current trends in state ESG legislation and regulation along with background for how we got to this point. This is the third publication on this topic in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
The ESG and Public Pension Investing in 2023: A Year-to-Date Recap and Analysis was authored by Joshua Lichtenstein, partner in the employment, executive compensation and employee benefits group and head of the firm’s ERISA fiduciary practice, Michael Littenberg, partner and global chair of the Environmental, Social and Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and business and human rights compliance practice and ERISA practice associates Reagan Haas, Jonathan Reinstein and Alexa Voskerichian.
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