The world’s leading maker of electric vehicles has been cut from S&P’s index for environmentally conscious investors due to flaws in its business conduct and, ironically, low-carbon strategy.
Tesla, the world’s leading maker of electric vehicles, has been cut from S&P’s ESG Index created for environmentally conscious investors owing to flaws in its business conduct and, ironically, aspects of the company’s low-carbon strategy. The move inflamed Tesla CEO Elon Musk who called “ESG is a scam.”
S&P removed Tesla from the index early this month as part of a regular rebalancing of companies that prioritize sustainability but didn’t detail the changes until today, with a blog post from Margaret Dorn, head of S&P’s North American ESG Indices. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet were the highest-ranked companies on the list, which assesses companies’ overall environmental impact, sustainability efforts and corporate culture. Curiously, oil giant Exxon Mobil ranked among the index’s top 10 while Tesla scored in the bottom 25%, making it ineligible for inclusion. Tesla “was pushed further down the ranks relative to its global industry group peers” that made improvements in their operations and due to “Tesla’s (lack of) low carbon strategy and codes of business conduct,” Dorn said.
