Labor Proposal Stakes Out Final Word on ESG Retirement Investing

A proposed Biden administration rule making it easier for retirement plans to invest in environmental and socially conscious funds has the potential to settle a perennial debate over do-good investments in workers’ savings.

The U.S. Labor Department proposal, announced last month and wending its way through a two-month notice and comment period, would reverse ex-President Donald Trump’s regulations on environmental, social, and corporate governance factors, expressly permitting ESG considerations when selecting investments or exercising shareholder voting rights on behalf of plan participants.

Its non-final nature hasn’t stopped observers from declaring the fight finished, that ESG proponents have already ...