Pensions and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing

The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a new rule that encourages pension fund managers to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in their investments. The Department argues this would give managers greater discretion in choosing fund investments. Critics contend that this creates serious risks of politicizing investments and creating conflicts of interest between ideological managers and plan beneficiaries.

Please join CEI for an online discussion on this proposal and its implications, with introductory remarks by former Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia. Public comment on the proposed rule, “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” closes on December 13.

Eugene Scalia, Partner, Gibson Dunn

Tom Christina, Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins

Dan Greenberg, Senior Attorney, CEI

Richard Morrison, Research Fellow, CEI’s Center for Advancing Capitalism

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

12:00 – 1:00 pm EST

Register: https://cei-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nHjLQMVyRMyarXOUj0GLbw

Sign up to join the conversation live and receive a link to the video archive following the event.

Registration confirmation and event reminder emails will be sent from CEI Events at [email protected] 

Questions? Email [email protected]

Tom Christina is a shareholder in Ogletree Deakins, where he practices employee benefits law, including regulatory and compliance issues. He has represented clients in appellate matters on a wide range of subjects for more than 30 years, in cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court. After the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, he became nationally known for discovering the law’s vulnerability on the issue of premium tax credits for coverage purchased through the federal Marketplace, which led to the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in King v. Burwell.

Dan Greenberg is a senior attorney at CEI, where he focuses on reform of civil asset seizure and forfeiture at federal and state levels. From 2017 to 2021 he was a senior policy advisor at the Department of Labor, where he examined the financial stability of state and local public pension programs. He has also served as an Arkansas state legislator.

Richard Morrison is a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where his work focuses on the relationship between economic and political freedom. He was previously a senior editor at CEI and managing editor of the blog OpenMarket. He also served as program manager of CEI’s Center for Advancing Capitalism, where he coordinated outreach to the business community, universities, and other stakeholders. Before re-joining CEI, he was manager of communications at the Tax Foundation. Prior to that, he served as CEI’s director of media relations and director of new media.

Eugene Scalia is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, co-chair of the firm’s Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Group, and a senior member of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and Financial Institutions Group. He returned to the firm after serving as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from September 2019 to January 2021.