WOKE WEDNESDAY: Qantas’ glass cliff CEO gets grilled, Verizon CEO Vestberg’s “mood data”, sneaky GOP DOL ESG rules, and Tay made a man woke

Live from a Qantas-flavored cheese doodle, it’s the ESG Industry’s ONLY weekly woke data podcast, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi! In today’s bedazzled ESG necktie called September 27, 2023: random ESG headlines, an anti-woke roundup from your favorite AnalystHole, and a word from the great Paul Hodgson from ESGauge

Our show today is being sponsored by ESGauge, your ESG data solutions provider: Paul will jump on later to talk about “gender pay equity”

DAMION1

1. New Qantas CEO Hudson Grilled by Lawmakers Over Raft of Scandals

1. New Qantas Airways Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Vanessa Hudson was grilled, rebuked and chided by a parliamentary inquiry, piling more pressure on an airline already under fire for its treatment of passengers, staff and competitors.

2. Rachel Waterhouse, CEO of the Australian Shareholders Association, said in an interview that Chair Richard Goyder ought to step down by the end of the year. But he must first field questions from shareholders at the annual general meeting in November, and lay out a succession plan for his role, she said. Like Joyce, Goyder must answer for decisions made under their joint watch, she said. “They’re both absolutely responsible,” she said.

3. Dispirited Qantas pilots call for chairman to quit in damning letter 

1. “Richard Goyder has overseen one of the most damaging periods in Qantas history which has included the illegal sacking of 1,700 workers, allegations of illegally marketing cancelled flights, and a terribly managed return to operations after COVID-19.”

2. The union also claimed that the chairman was “tone-deaf” after accepting a pay-rise while employees continued to have wages frozen. “Despite overseeing the destruction of the Qantas brand, Goyder last week accepted a near $100,000 pay rise – taking his pay to $750,000 – while staff are expected to accept a two-year wage freeze. This is a galling and tone-deaf decision,” Lucas added.

2. Biden Joins Autoworkers on Picket Line in Michigan

1. President Biden grabbed a bullhorn and joined striking autoworkers in Michigan on Tuesday, becoming the first sitting president to join a picket line in an extraordinary show of support for workers demanding better wages

3. JPMorgan Chase settles case over its ties to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein for $75 million, saying it ‘deeply regrets any association with this man’

1. JPMorgan Chase reached settlements with former executive Jes Staley and the US Virgin Islands over ties to Jeffrey Epstein, as it seeks to end its legal woes over its banking relationship to the deceased pedophile. 

2. The biggest US bank tentatively agreed to pay $75 million to the USVI, according to a statement Tuesday — less than half of the $190 million the territory had sought. JPMorgan also reached a confidential agreement with Staley to resolve the firm’s claims against him. 

4. Verizon's CEO Hans Vestberg has been tracking his mood out of 10 in a spreadsheet every day since 2009, and if he gives himself less than 3, he works alone for the day

1. This is what each score means, per CNBC: 

1. One to two - This means he wasn't in the right headspace to work with other people and should "stay in his office," and work alone the coming day. 

2. Three to seven - This is the ideal score and "usually when I'm best," because he was "energized" and productive. 

3. Eight to 10 - A score above eight means he has "so much energy that people get tired of me," so he could end up tiring out colleagues rather than energizing them. 

2. What do we think his mood was when 30% of shareholders told him in May that he shouldn’t be both CEO and Chair?

3. Or what do you think his mood was when he realized he gets paid $350k to sit on Blackrock’s board despite not really having to be there in the first place (there are 15 other directors, including founder, chair, and CEO Larry FInk, and he has only 0.8% influence

5. Finally, speaking of rating things, what do you think about these two 2030 headlines:

1. Nissan to go all-electric by 2030 despite petrol ban delay

1. Nissan will accelerate plans towards electrification by committing that all vehicles sold in Europe will be electric by 2030.

2. The announcement comes despite the UK postponing its 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars to 2035.

2. France Announces Plan to Cut Emissions 55% by 2030

1. One of the plan’s key focus areas is on cutting reliance on fossil fuels. Macron announced that the country’s last coal-fired electricity generation plants will be closed by 2027 and converted to biomass energy plants.

2. Macron also said that he has received pledges from 50 of France’s top industrial polluters to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030.

MATT1

Anti woke roundup

Conservatives love sneaky rules that don’t actually accomplish anything

• Conservatives are hinging all their ESG hopes and fears on a single word: “pecuniary”

• Definition: Of or pertaining to money

• Definition in context from Trump 2020 Department of Labor rules: “a factor that a fiduciary prudently determines is expected to have a material effect on the risk and/or return of an investment based on appropriate investment horizons consistent with the plan’s investment objectives and the funding policy established pursuant to section 402(b)(1) of ERISA.”

• Three new rules passed in House:

• You have to justify an investment as pecuniary

• They want LESS PROXY VOTING - anything that isn’t immediately financial should not be voted

• They actually want you to have NO choices - they want the Department of Labor to have no oversight of outside investment options and they want more disclosure to essentially discourage them

• Ie, ESG alternatives get more disclosure than “normal” funds

• Here’s the best one: No investing that says anything about race, gender, religion… the “no discrimination” rule that basically precludes retirement funds from offering options that target any diversity goals

• But they added in there “national origin” - isn’t this anti-anti-China potentially?

• Who it hurts:

• Impact investors - sorry ladies and black people, any funds that espouse more diversity of thought and a set of qualified decision makers who represent all stakeholders is OUT

• Religious investors? - This would essentially preclude any religious options in retirement plans ironically - you HAVE TO INVEST IN THOSE ABORTIONS so you don’t discriminate against us atheists

• Humans who plan on living more than 7 years - a “long term” investment in a stock is commonly thought of as more than seven years. Conservatives really want you to focus on stuff happening, like, tomorrow only.

• Who it helps:

• ESG Ratings - I mean, all they do is talk about materiality - there are case studies any reasonable person could use to show how a factor is material.  Arguably, BECAUSE the ratings are a jumbly mess of shit you could argue that any one element in and of itself isn’t material (ie, DEI), but taken as a whole ARE material (ie, “all factors related to managing employee workforces”)

Getting angry at stuff we just found out about, continued

• Proving once again we just hate women and black people:

• Either it’s the woman’s fault: Will Taylor Swift make Travis Kelce woke?

• Or it’s the black people’s fault: Amidst Taylor Swift rumors, "woke" Travis Kelce taking a knee during a 2017 game goes viral

• Conservatives just found out Kelce knelt during an anthem once… 6 YEARS AGO

• Megyn Kelly: Kelly said Kelce was “obviously super woke,” adding, “he’s with Taylor, he endorsed Bud Light post controversy and he’s pushing the Pfizer vaccine.”

• Meanwhile: As for the merchandise, the sales for Kelce’s jersey spiked 400%.