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The Right Coast
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Your New Woke 401(k) – WSJ

By Thomas A. Smith

An important Trump Labor rule last fall reinforced that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Erisa) requires retirement plan fiduciaries to act solely in the interest of participants. The rule prevented pension plans and asset managers from considering ESG factors like climate, workforce diversity and political donations unless they had a material effect on the return and risk of an investment. The rule effectively barred plans from placing workers who don t select a 401(k) fund option into a default ESG fund.

The Biden DOL plans to scrap the Trump rule while putting retirement sponsors and asset managers on notice that they have a fiduciary duty to include ESG in investment decisions. The proposed rule makes clear that climate change and other ESG factors are often material and thus in many instances should be considered in the assessment of investment risks and returns.

via www.wsj.com

What a perfectly horrible idea. Force people to invest in one thing and not another? I can see a rule (in this nth best world we live in) that requires plans to offer ESG investments, ultimately ridiculous as many may turn out to be. But to require one to invest in them? Unbelievable.