WOKE WEDNESDAY: Iger will "definitely" probably step down, Altman was not "candid", the GOP hates SBTi, ISS, and Glass Lewis, plus AT&T's political congruency

Live from an ESG winter shack, it’s the ESG Industry’s ONLY weekly woke data podcast, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi! In today’s ESG bloat called December 6, 2023: My favorite headlines so far this week and Matt’s anti-ESG/Anti-woke data wars update

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only ESG data platform to measure real board influence and diversity power gaps

DAMION1

My favorite headlines so far this week:

1. My favorite vague business news headline of the week so far:

1. McDonald's investor day will feature possible updates on multiple key topics

2. My favorite meaningless corporate governance headline of the week so far:

1. Disney CEO Bob Iger will 'definitely' step down in 2026; succession process 'robust'

3. My favorite do you think maybe we concentrate on the wrong things as a culture headline of the week so far:

1. McDonald's plans to expand its burger empire by an unprecedented 10,000 new stores over the next 4 years

1. As an example: Earth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn

4. My favorite can we get this data in the proxy headline of the week so far:

1. Jeff Bezos leaves Seattle with empire of 8 properties — including 5 we just discovered

5. My favorite CEO megalomania headline of the week so far:

1. Abercrombie & Fitch sued by ex-CEO Mike Jeffries for refusing to cover his legal fees after he was accused of running a sex trafficking operation

1. In exchange for serving as CEO, Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) offered to indemnify Mr Jeffries for any claims arising out of his position with the company.

2. This included any threatened, asserted, pending or completed claim "whether civil, criminal, administrative" or other, his legal complaint says.

3. The contract also required the brand to either reimburse or provide advance payment to Mr Jeffries, at his request, in connection with any claim, the lawsuit adds.

6. My favorite sorry, that still doesn’t give you the right to do your job headline of the week so far:

1. New report illuminates why OpenAI board said Altman “was not consistently candid”

1. some board members found Altman "manipulative and conniving" and took particular issue with the way Altman allegedly tried to manipulate the board into firing fellow board member Helen Toner

2. Also from Wired: OpenAI signed a letter of intent to invest $51 million in AI chips for a startup called Rain AI — a company Altman had already invested in himself

7. My favorite tricky, hide the protagonist, manipulative journalism headline of the week so far:

1. Liberal activist shareholders set to sue Smith & Wesson as part of ESG push to cripple gun manufacturers

2. But the actual headline: Activist Nuns, With Stake in Smith & Wesson, Sue Gun Maker Over AR-15 Rifles

8. My favorite business news headline of the week so far where my use of the word “favorite” is purely sarcastic:

1. Due to AI, “We are about to enter the era of mass spying:” AI will enable a shift from observing actions to interpreting intentions

2. On top of that: Google is finally launching Gemini, its biggest shot at OpenAI

3. As a sidenote: You'll Be Astonished How Much Power It Takes to Generate a Single AI Image

1. Generating 1000 images from text prompts generates the carbon emission equivalent of "4.1 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle," according to an upcoming research paper.

4. As a sidenote, part 2: The free version of ChatGPT may provide false answers to questions about drugs, new study finds

1. Long Island University researchers challenged ChatGPT with real drug-related questions in the past year.

2. The chatbot produced responses that were false or incomplete for 29 out of 39 questions.

9. My favorite business news headline of the week so far that supports our mission at Free Float:

1. Head of Climate Conference Who Happens to Be an Oil CEO Says Actually Fossil Fuels Are Fine

1. That’s Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, who said AT COP28!: "There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5," adding that he refused to be part of an "alarmist" discussion.

2. According to the Global Oil and Gas Exit List, a public database that keeps track of the activities of oil and gas ventures, the Al Jaber-led state oil company has far and away the biggest plans to expand oil and gas production in the world.

10. And finally, My favorite business news headline of the week so far that supports our mission at Free Float, part 2:

1. Mark Zuckerberg donated $500 million to Harvard for AI. Then a disinformation research project was shut down, a whistleblower alleges

1. Prominent scholar Joan Donovan, who left Harvard University in August has accused the school of muzzling — then dismantling — her disinformation research team

2. How exactly does this support our  mission? I’m not entirely sure but you really should know who your CEOs and directors are.

MATT1:

First, the update on SBTi that literally no one asked for!

• LET THE RAILROADING BEGIN…

• Another hearing!  The Joint Investigations & Oversight and Environment Subcommittee Hearing titled “Missing the Target: CEQ’s Meritless Selection of SBTi”

• I think they gave too much about their position away in the title, no?  Sounds like a fair and balanced hearing maybe?  No?

• Well Max Miller, the 35 year old former aid to Trump and current blowhard who urged Israel to turn the Gaza Strip into, “a parking lot”, now blames a non-profit that sets mediocre carbon targets as a major risk to our entire military! “The most at risk for negative impacts from this rule is our military and combat readiness.”

• Also, “This is not hyperbole: the lives of Americans at home and abroad could be jeopardized because of the political gamesmanship this rule is pushing.”

• Oh, it’s not hyperbole Max?  Really?  Not?

• But don’t worry, the good guys weighed in, too - or I should say Bill Baue weighed in, who I’ve now met and spoken to, to castigate Andrew Mayock of the Council on Environmental Quality who apparently was there to get yelled at EVEN THOUGH THE COUNCIL DIDN’T WRITE THIS RULE?  Effectively, the argument is the perfect IS the enemy of the good, and just because people use SBTi, they should, like, use other things first!

• I’m sure that two ranking Republicans in the current House of Representatives were deeply moved by the idea of a better model of carbon measurement to use in US procurement, not the fact that the chair had ⅓ of his donations came from oil and electric utilities this year, and his second largest individual donor owns gas stations and the pinhead got his money to win from the Club For Growth (two uber conservative billionaires) and a handful of car dealers.

• Long story short, looks like SBTi is going to get stalled out and US procurement can be carbon constraint free for the foreseeable future - you won, car dealers, gas stations, and Bill Baue!

The Anti Woke Have Not Left the Building

• The “ban only who WE say to ban, not who YOU want to ban - because first amendment!” pattern lives!

• 23 Attorneys General penned a letter to ISS/Glass Lewis decrying discrimination - they said vote AGAINST “debanking” proxies when these AGs wanted them to say FOR!

• My favorite part of the letter is the third paragraph, where they fundamentally forget that ISS and Glass Lewis AREN’T ACTUALLY FIDUCIARIES - they are third parties selling advice:

• We have expressed deep concern that ISS and Glass Lewis are prioritizing certain environmental, social, and governance initiatives and that doing so violates your contractual and statutory duties to issue advice consistent with your responsibilities as a fiduciary. 

• Here’s the meaty threat:

• To comply with federal and state law and its contract obligations, ISS and Glass Lewis must give sound proxy advice.

• Where “sound” is clearly “what we think, not what your clients think”.  And later:

• ISS and Glass Lewis may be violating their legal duties by opposing transparency-in-debanking proposals

• There you have it folks!  By that rational, ISS and Glass Lewis should oppose ZERO proxies!  VOTE FOR EVERYTHING!  Why would debanking be a more important proxy than a civil rights audit?  But here you go:

• Debanking is also targeting religious and conservative groups. For example, Chase allegedly debanked the National Committee for Religious Freedom after demanding its donor list.

• Federal regulations demand seeing donor lists because if the donor is a terrorist organization or a Russian oligarch, they can’t do business with them - but NCRF didn’t comply and couldn’t get an account, so it’s a religious attack!

And finally, a landmark report was issued… 

• In 2022, As You Sow filed a shareholder proposal looking for a report on “political congruency”, which has been an ask the anti-woke are using as well, that matches how a company gives to politicians with what they SAY they value

• 44.2% support, didn’t pass, but negotiated!

• AT&T political congruency report

• 47% “misaligned” with… Economic growth??