Right wing attack on Wall Street: Republican lawmakers are accusing Wall Street of “colluding” with climate advocacy groups and forming a “climate cartel” in their bid to shrink corporate America's emissions, Reuters reports, citing a report by the Republican majority in a US congressional committee. In response to fears that the fossil fuel industry will see increased divestment as more firms adopt ESG criteria, Republicans are accusing the Biden administration of not properly investigating the “apparent violations of longstanding US antitrust law.”

Big names were thrown in the bag: “The Republicans described the world's three biggest asset managers, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street as members of the climate cartel,” Reuters writes. From the climate advocacy side, the report focused most of its criticisms on Climate Action 100+ — a group of more than 700 investors working on pushing companies to curb emissions — which the report says are “bullying asset managers to join.”

But not everyone agrees: “There is no theory of antitrust law that prevents private investors from working together to capture the risks associated with climate change,” Democrat Congressman Jerrold Nadler said in response to the report. He argued that cooperating on climate efforts enhances competition by creating a streamlined emissions disclosure framework. Democrats still control the White House and the Senate making anti-ESG legislation unlikely at the moment. However, the upcoming elections may shake things up.

You can read more about the recent political backlash against ESG in our comprehensive report published last month.

Italian electrochemistry firm Industrie De Nora has broken ground on Italy's largest electrolyzer manufacturing plant, Reuters reports. The EUR 100 mn plant is slated to be operational by late 2025 or early 2026, and already has orders from customers — including Neom's Green Hydrogen Project — secured to produce 2 GW worth of hydrogen.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

  • Orsted to install Tesla battery system in offshore wind farm: Renewables group Orsted will use Tesla’s Megapack battery storage system in its 600 MWh eastern England offshore wind farm. The move will help ensure stability in the UK energy supply as well as reduce price volatility. (Statement)
  • Netherlands awards largest-ever offshore wind tender to SSE, Vattenfall: The Dutch government has awarded permits for developing 4 GW of offshore wind farms off its west coast. Swedish energy company Vattenfall and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners will develop the 2 GW IJmuiden Ver Beta project, while British firm SSE Renewables, in a consortium with ABP and APG, can also go forward with a bid to develop the 2 GW IJmuiden Ver Wind Farm Alpha project. (Reuters)
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