P&I Online readers support public pension plans employing ESG screens, according to the results of last week's poll.
Almost 54% of poll respondents support the use of ESG screens and about 46% are opposed.
Following the December shootings in Newtown, Conn., a number of high-profile public pension plans have either cut, frozen or announced plans to divest holdings in firearms companies. The biggest pension plans to make announcements were the $154.3 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System and $150.1 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund.
Despite P&I Online readers' support for public pension plans using ESG screens, P&I published an editorial titled “Misdirected furor,” which made an argument against public pension plans attempting to push social change through investing.
The editorial even included a cartoon depicting plan executives as lemmings. The cartoon echoed the sentiment of a P&I Online reader, who commented on the poll page decrying the movement as hysteria.
