Team ESG Gets a Pass From the SEC

Your editorial “Proxy Advisers and Double Standards” (Nov. 16) chides Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler for ignoring a report documenting material mistakes in voting recommendations to investment managers by two dominant proxy-advisory firms. Those two firms, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, are reliable supporters of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and are likely to get a pass from the progressive head of the SEC.

It isn’t surprising that the proxy-advisory duopoly also gets little pushback from asset managers buying their services. Investment professionals who are chartered financial analysts are inundated with materials from the CFA Institute that promote “principles for responsible investing” (in contrast to irresponsible investing).