The Aspen Institute is holding an invitation-only event, the “Aspen ESG Summit,” at a time when rising energy prices, novel climate mandates, and growing global instability have made environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) a subject of controversy.
It also received at least a million or more dollars from the U.S. State Department and Walmart, respectively.
The Aspen Institute describes itself as values-based but non-partisan. It doesn’t fund political candidates or parties.
In an April monologue, Carlson alluded to its influence when criticizing former President Barack Obama’s Stanford University speech on disinformation.
Team Aspen Rules on ‘Pro-Democracy Commitments’
ESG was recently slammed by Elon Musk, who described it as a “scam” after the S&P Global Index removed his pioneering electric car company, Tesla, from its ESG Index. In addition, the treasurers of many energy-producing states in the United States believe they have been unfairly penalized by new ESG ratings.Representatives of the United States’ largest banks and other companies are also slated to speak at the Aspen Institute’s summit, which runs July 11–July 14.
Those speakers include individuals affiliated with Citi, Microsoft, Starbucks, Putnam Investments, Prudential, GE, and Danone.
One “dialogue stream” at the event is titled, “(How) Should ESG Leaders Support Democracy?”
“Threats to democracy have upended business as usual domestically and abroad. Why should ESG leaders care? Are ESG leaders playing a role in operationalizing the pro-democracy commitments their firms have made—or how might they, while still doing their day job?” the agenda states.
In a 2021 set of “Predictions for Business and Society in 2022,” the Aspen Institute’s Judy Samuelson praised employees who, “in the wake of January 6th,” were the ones to connect their “company’s PAC [political action committee] to support of elected officials engaged in anti-democratic behavior.”
“As we move toward midterms, concern for our democracy will only grow—and businesses, particularly those that are active in the pay-to-[play] system that dominates our political system—will again be under the microscope of employees,” she wrote at the time.
The Aspen Institute didn’t respond by press time to requests by The Epoch Times for comment.