Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) recently made headlines when he signed Florida’s anti-ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) legislation into law. But Florida was not the first state to protect taxpayer dollars from woke investing, and it won’t be the last.

Despite what liberal outlets such as the Washington Post would have you believe, the conservative battle against woke investing is a winning fight. Over the last two years, the number of states that introduced anti-ESG legislation doubled, and the number of states that have passed those bills has nearly tripled to 11 states so far this year.

Why are these bills so successful? Because the ESG movement is fundamentally flawed. It yields lower financial returns, and its values are out of touch with the majority of Americans.

Simply put, hard-working people want to see their jobs, pensions, and retirement savings protected from funding a political agenda that will hurt them. For example, Oklahoma taxpayers don’t want to fund a net-zero political agenda aimed at phasing out natural gas when 6 % of Oklahoma jobs are tied to the oil and gas industry.

ESG is a set of criteria currently being used by some asset managers and financial institutions when deciding whether to do business with American companies. While advocates of ESG argue that investing based on climate impact and social responsibility is a good bet with great returns, the evidence shows otherwise . Even Harvard Business Review acknowledges that ESG investing portfolios perform poorly.

When financial institutions use state funds to boycott the coal industry and advance an ESG agenda, it is American workers that suffer. Last year, West Virginia stopped doing business with five major banks boycotting the fossil fuel industry — an industry vital to thousands of jobs in the state as well as the state’s economy. This year, six other states passed legislation similar to this boycott model . This Heritage Foundation model policy simply ensures states are not customers of companies that threaten the very existence of their citizens’ livelihoods.

Another way states are combating the Left’s ESG push is by prohibiting asset managers from using ESG standards when investing state funds. Florida, Kansas, and several other states have passed legislation of this kind this year to protect state investments and pension funds from ESG. This approach is known as the state pension fiduciary model , and this model, or a version of it, was introduced in more than a dozen states and has already been enacted in 10 states in 2023. These laws ensure asset managers make investment decisions based solely on financial factors, not political ones — something they should already be doing. Asset managers making decisions or commitments based on ESG factors risk violating their fiduciary duty to the state.

To underscore the momentum of the anti-ESG movement in states across the nation, Kansas’s fiduciary model — one of the strongest in the nation — became law despite having a Democratic governor . Kentucky and Arkansas also enacted strong fiduciary model bills. Montana, Tennessee, and Arizona have passed similar bills, and several more states could see legislation passed this year.

Yet, as state after state enacts laws to protect consumers and taxpayers, the Biden administration remains fixed on forcing ESG (political) investing onto Americans. For example, Biden’s recent Department of Labor rule will allow companies to make ESG funds the default investment choice for employees who put money into their 401(k).

Congress tried to block this terrible ESG regulation, and even some Senate Democrats joined Republicans in passing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Department of Labor’s rule. But Biden issued his first veto to stop the CRA and keep the regulation in place, a decision that risks the retirement savings of 152 million Americans.

While Biden’s unelected bureaucracy works against people and their retirement, elected leaders at the state level are passing laws with great effect in order to defend jobs, workers, and their savings. Like these states, the public is firmly opposed to the ESG agenda — the proof is in the numbers. As more people learn about the dangers of ESG, expect even more states to take action.

Catherine Gunsalus is the director of state advocacy for Heritage Action.