Virginia’s Youngkin Says ESG Transparency Has Become Punitive

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who ran one of the nation’s biggest investment firms before he took office, said ESG investing is under fire because it has morphed from a philosophy for picking stocks into a weapon for penalizing companies that don’t make the cut.

“Is having world-class transparency and governance a good thing? Yes, it’s a really good thing,” Youngkin, a Republican and the former co-head of Carlyle Group Inc., said during a Bloomberg News editorial board meeting on Monday. But the definition of what’s good for the environment, social goals and governance isn’t one-size-fits all, he added. ...