Recently Governance Intelligence, a U.K.-based website that focuses on news and trends for an audience made up heavily of corporate secretaries and governance professionals, interviewed NLPC’s Paul Chesser, director of our Corporate Integrity Project, about his background, our history of shareholder activism, our priorities in how we hold Corporate America accountable, and where he thinks the trends are leading for this year.
Here is an excerpt from the edited transcript of reporter Natalie Bannerman’s interview with Chesser:
How do you see the relationship between ESG advocacy and fiduciary duty?
I believe it is highly disputed whether ESG improves financial performance. ESG advocates cite studies, but others have challenged those findings.
Our first year focused on governance proposals, yet some media labeled them anti-ESG because of who we are. When other proponents submit similar governance proposals, they are not labeled that way. Governance should stand on its own merits.
On environmental and social issues, consider the push for net-zero commitments by large banks and asset managers. We ask companies to demonstrate, on a fiduciary and scientific basis, that these commitments are viable and economic. We often see advocacy reports rather than objective evidence.
We have criticized electric vehicle policy since my early days with the organization. Battery technology, infrastructure and economics have not supported rapid transitions. When companies like General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis committed heavily to electric vehicles, we warned it was a mistake. Since then, there have been billions of dollars in write-offs.
We believe many ESG-driven decisions lack objectivity. Corporate leaders often appear guided more by ideology and emotion than by economic fundamentals. Economic laws eventually prevail.
Read the full Governance Intelligence interview with Chesser here.
(AI image above created via Nano Banana – that is NOT a depiction or likeness of Paul Chesser!)
