Texas Regulator Scorns ‘Woke’ ESG Investing Over Pressure on Oil

A commissioner for Texas’s powerful energy regulator said the newfound popularity of ESG investing could result in record industry bankruptcies and the loss of millions of jobs while doing little to help the environment.

Republican Wayne Christian, who sits on the three-person Texas Railroad Commission, said the goal of taking environmental, social and governance factors into account is to deprive “legitimate” companies of necessary investment “because they, in the opinion of some, cause some indirect or amorphous social harm.”

For ESG data and analysis from Bloomberg Intelligence, click here.

Christian’s press release posted on the commission’s website comes as ...