In fact, the face behind the ESG movement — Blackrock’s CEO Larry Fink — recently backtracked on using this word as he recognised the negative publicity associated with it.
As Larry pointed out, ESG has been weaponised to turn what was once beneficial to society into a politically charged issue that divided society.
Perhaps the most contentious issue that ESG is associated with is climate change. For one, it’s divided society.
The scientific community are at war accusing each other of ‘climate alarmism’ or ‘climate change denialism’.
I believe that it doesn’t matter who ends up being right. Global demand for resources is going to soar regardless.
The only thing that’s up in the air is whether these resources are put to good use.
Let’s explore this further and see how you can benefit from what’s unfolding.
The changing face of ESG from refining society to a toxic agenda
For the past five decades, various groups have raised concerns about overpopulation, pollution and climate change.
The world’s population has been rapidly increasing. It was estimated at 1.65 billion at the start of the 20th century. Today we have over 8 billion people.
With it come the challenges such as wealth inequality, crime, urban sprawl and geopolitical tension.
Furthermore, the rapid development in technology and the ‘profit motive’ by large corporations have contributed to more pollution and environmentally destructive practices.
To counter such impact as companies sought to maximise shareholder value, the ESG framework was introduced. It steered companies to invest and research ways to refine business practices and potentially mitigate their negative impact.
To name a few, we’re now driving cleaner vehicles, adopting ‘reuse and recycle’ strategies to cut waste and developing more energy efficient appliances.
These are some of the positive aspects of ESG.
But in recent years, the movement has mutated into a toxic agenda. With it comes the most counterintuitive and self-destructive set of practices which could take the world back several decades and result in lasting societal and economic damage.
Climate change — ESG’s Frankenstein monster
I opine that climate change has brought out the worst of society’s malaise and institutional malpractice.
This movement is run by certain globalist bodies, multinational corporations, academic institutions and non-government lobby groups. They’ve invested vast sums of money knowing the massive payoff.
Just look at how we’re rolling out solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and smart metres. At the same time we’re phasing out coal power plants, gas stoves and petrol driven cars. Western nations are cutting down on exploring and producing fossil fuel while OPEC nations control the supply of fossil fuels.
The media acts as gatekeepers by declaring manmade climate change is ‘settled science’. It suppresses any dissenting voice or opinion through fact-checking, ridicule and slanted coverage.
However, this might soon change as the ‘settled science’ of manmade climate change comes under attack.
Last month, over 1,600 scientists publicly declared that the climate emergency is a hoax and that it isn’t an existential threat to mankind.
Just so you know, these aren’t fringe dwellers. Among them are leading scientists and practitioners in their fields, including two Nobel laureates.
The dissenters noted how politics and money conflate the facts and narrative. This results in poor decisions and policies, not to mention mass hysteria. This is especially the case with the younger generation who have been targeted with propaganda.
They also highlighted that studies supporting the mainstream narrative go against the fundamentals in various scientific disciplines.
The most egregious abuses include:
- Claiming that carbon dioxide is harmful and causes rising temperatures. This goes against basic biology that plants and trees take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and produce oxygen as a by-product. Furthermore, the claim that carbon dioxide levels lead to rising temperatures is cherrypicked using recent data. This claim is not supported when using data going back further in time.
- Using climate models with flawed assumptions that generate results which are not reflected in real life.
- Knowingly publishing flawed results and studies. To confuse readers, these reports hide shortcomings, use jargon and are ‘padded out’.
Many studies turn the accepted practice on its head, resulting in ‘garbage in, garbage out’.
A solution is certain to fail when the assumptions and framework are flawed. That’s commonsense.
However, this creates opportunities for unscrupulous policymakers and their beneficiaries.
You can always throw more money at a persistent problem.
The die is cast on a resources boom
Even though the veil is lifted on the climate change proponents, a commodities boom is imminent.
If the proponents succeed in quashing the dissent and continue with their ‘Net Zero’ agenda, we’ll see the electrification of the world with solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles…all of which require vast amounts of mined materials to get up and running.
The alternative is a shift back to more fossil fuels and possibly the rise of nuclear energy.
We can only hope that the leaders of the world have the sense to shift the world towards cheaper and more efficient energy.
But either way, opportunities could be found in a coming commodities boom.
You can get started on that journey here.
God bless,
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Brian Chu,
Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia
