Shareholder advocates age 60+ and faith-based investors are lobbying Congress, banks and corporations to resume climate-change efforts and other initiatives.
Investors who support socially responsible issues and services have a fight on their hands but it’s far from a lost cause. That’s the opinion of two longtime advocates of ESG, which puts a premium on environmental, social and governance factors in investing. And many of those pressing for ESG efforts alongside them are past traditional retirement age.
“We’re very worried about the health of our democracy, and the health of our planet. It feels to us that now is the oddest passage in American history in the course of our lives,’’ says environmentalist Bill McKibben, whose books on global warming include “The End of Nature’’ (1989).
In 2022, McKibben founded Third Act, an organization whose 70,000 members, all over age 60, advocate for clean air and energy, voting rights, gender equity, corporate responsibility, and community involvement.
“I founded Third Act because I sensed there were lots of people my age who wanted to go work to leave behind a better world — they were dismayed by Jan. 6, and rattled by record temperatures year after year,’’ says McKibben, 64.
Aging Does Not Fuel Apathy
“There’s a mythology that people become more conservative and apathetic as they age. But I thought that our generation, in its first act, was around for the great moments of the civil rights, women’s rights, and environmental movements, and that they hadn’t forgotten!’’ he says.
Third Act members’ average age is somewhere in the 70s, McKibben says. “But we have plenty of centenarians. Youth is short but you can be older for a long time.’’
Targeting pocketbook issues and votes are means to Third Act’s ends: Members have been lobbying Congress to lift federal funding freezes, urging banks to stop financing policies harmful to the environment, writing op-ed letters rejecting the current Administration’s platform, and voting corporate shares for ESG initiatives.
Faith-based Investors Also Advocating Louder
Political pressure to discourage ESG initiatives has intensified during the Trump presidency, says
Timothy Smith, senior policy advisor with Interfaith Council on Corporate Responsibility, New York.
ICCR is a coalition of about 300 global institutional investors with more than $4 trillion in managed assets. As shareholders, its member call for better performance on environmental, social and governance concerns at powerful companies around the world.
“The struggle between the two sides of this issue is unprecedented,’’ says Smith. “Like anybody else in this field, we are shocked and challenged by all these attacks. Not just the executive orders but the attacks on the work that we do, and have done for 50-plus years.’’
Bipartisan Public Support for Climate Initiatives
Initial actions taken by the Trump administration included dozens of recissions of executive orders on ESG initiatives, as well as withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, and calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to undo more than two dozen major environmental regulations dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, toxic air pollution and waste from fossil fuel extraction.
A 2024 Yale University poll showed that 52% of registered voters believe global warming should be a very high priority for the president and Congress. And a 2024 Environmental Protection Network post-election poll found that 81% of all voters, including 72% of Trump voters, favored increasing federal funds to often poor communities harmed by air and water pollution.
States Join Congress in ESG Attacks
Smith says the attacks on ESG also have come from within Congress and state legislatures. In several states, conservative politicians have introduced bills to undo or eliminate environmental controls that people like McKibben pushed for nearly 40 years ago.
“Some states are very active in challenging companies’ sustainability position, and not just verbally; in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida, the state legislatures have created a list of investment managers that they would not do business with because of ESG investments,” says Smith. “It’s a very serious problem.’’
More than 400 bills submitted in 28 state legislatures over the last three years have attacked ESG investments, he says.
“If you live in one of those states, express yourself to your state legislators,” Smith says. “And the House Judiciary Committee decided to attack investments used for climate initiatives. So, write your members of Congress. Tell them you are deeply distressed and that they have got to oppose these kinds of attacks.’’
‘Serious Economic Pressure’
In December 2024, a report released by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Republican majority said a probe showed that fund firms and activists are part of a “climate cartel” that colludes through shareholder organizations pressing to cut emissions
“We are not just talking about verbal attacks, we are talking about serious economic pressure put on both pension funds and investment managers and even asset managers — the kind of work that ICCR does, whether it’s a religious group or others, it’s under scrutiny,’’ Smith says.
He adds that the Trump administration is now making attempts to get the Securities and Exchange Commission to change its rules to make resolutions more difficult for investors to implement.
Some firms are pulling back from or dropping their commitment to ESG initiatives under this pressure, but Smith estimated about 100 others remain publicly committed to sustainability investing.
“They may change their language a little in talking about issues, but they are not changing their stance, because their clients expect that,” says Smith. “The market is still there for them to serve these clients and provide active leadership on ESG.’’
Advocacy Efforts Are Getting Attention
McKibben says Third Act’s activities have caught the eye of corporate America.
“We’ve had some good conversations with the major banks and with companies like Costco and Apple. Right at the moment, though, an awful lot of corporations are scared of the Trump administration and hunkering down,” he says.
“We can tell our investment managers that we want to focus our investments on sustainability — and tell the same thing to our state and city treasurers, who control the big pension funds,’’ McKibben says.
In states such as California, Illinois, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts, the big public pension funds are standing firm on ESG initiatives investments, Smith says.
“Same thing with the companies that are still doing sustainability reports — they are doing that because they are listening to stakeholders and stockholders and employees and consumers,’’ says Smith.
How Can Individual Investors Help?
McKibben and Smith say individuals can affect policy by making ESG-wise investments, by urging their advisors to screen out toxic and harmful products, activities and policies.
In addition, “you can vote your shares, you can go to the polls, you can write your members of Congress, and get board members elected who share your values,’’ says Smith.
McKibben says it’s urgent to take action.
“The stakes are higher now than ever before,” says McKibben, wondering, “Can we hold off global warming to give our kids and grandkids a shot? Can we preserve the democracy we enjoyed throughout our lives?’’
Eleanor O’Sullivan is a writer for Rethinking65. In a four-decade career in journalism, she has reviewed many books on best practices for financial advisors.
