Want ESG in Your 401(k) Plan? Labor Regulators Left You Options

A do-good retirement investing rule set to take effect in January will allow employers to consider “participants’ preferences” in selecting and monitoring 401(k) menu options, a first for the heavily regulated private-sector investment selection process.

The final environmental, social, and corporate governance investing rule published last week struck a largely conciliatory tone by eliminating what some retirement plan practitioners feared would become a mandate forcing ESG considerations.

The agency’s new version of the rule largely reiterates the long-held principles that the economic interests of plan participants and beneficiaries are paramount. A retirement plan decision-maker held to a strict fiduciary standard ...