As You Sow Statement on Today’s House Judiciary Anti-Climate, Anti-Investor Subcommittee Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: Sophia Wilson, [email protected], (341) 600-1832

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA—JUNE 12, 2024—Today, the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust held a hearing on investors’ action to address climate change, the latest chapter of a protracted investigation into what the Judiciary Committee majority alleges are antitrust violations among investors responding to the severe economic threat posed by climate change. The Committee has targeted As You Sow and 13 other organizations with an investigation. Arjuna Capital, Ceres, and CalPERS were called as witnesses in today’s hearing.

Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, made the following statement:

After gathering more than 2.5 million pages of documents over a year and a half, the only thing the Committee has proven is that shareholders’ climate-related work is intended to reduce the financial impact of climate change on all Americans, help portfolio companies adapt to shifting markets, and defend the most basic property rights of investors. This investigation found no collusion and was a total waste of taxpayer money. The effect of this partisan crusade is to put all Americans at risk from climate impacts and the resulting economic instability.

Danielle Fugere, President and Chief Counsel of As You Sow, made the following statement:

From the outset, this investigation has been an ill-informed attempt to protect the oil and gas industry which, for the most part, is failing to transition effectively in response to a rapidly decarbonizing global economy. The Committee majority pays lip service to “competition” while misusing its investigative process to stifle competition and shield the oil and gas industry from having to compete with cheaper, cleaner alternatives. Investors are rightly concerned about the present and future cost of climate change and have every right to raise issues of material risk and to protect their investments.

Legally, two important points have emerged. First, despite numerous analyses pointing out the serious legal flaws in its “antitrust” theory, the Committee majority’s report makes no effort to defend or expand on what the minority report rightly points out is “the flimsiest of legal theories” and “a total sham.” There is not, and never has been, any antitrust violation to be found in investors working to reduce the real, economic risks created by climate change. 

Second, and relatedly, the minority report points out that both the inception and conduct of the Committee’s investigation have been legally problematic. The report concludes that the investigation was “an abuse of the Committee’s oversight authority,” constituted “a fishing expedition,” and was launched “with an improper purpose; namely, to impose a cost on investors and financial institutions that take seriously the threat of climate change and to chill legitimate business activity,” all of which “raises questions” about whether this investigation “exceeded the[] constitutional bounds” of the Committee’s authority. Similarly, the Committee “issued broad and sweeping demands,” “imposed unreasonably short return dates,” and refused to engage in “good-faith negotiations” about its onerous demands. Despite the Committee’s deficiencies, the minority report concluded, “[a]ll parties to this investigation made good-faith efforts to identify, collect, and produce internal documents under the fastest practicable timelines.”

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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30-year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity, racial justice, and workplace diversity.Click here to view As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.