Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced investigations Tuesday into two major Wall Street firms he accused of illegally steering companies toward “aggressive climate activist policies.”
It’s the latest flare in a long-simmering power struggle between Republicans aligned with President Donald Trump, who see investor pressure on climate change as a threat to fossil fuels, and Wall Street, which has cast the GOP effort as a new kind of big-government regulation that will hurt economic competitiveness.
Paxton — a Republican mounting a primary challenge to Sen. John Cornyn (R) — is demanding documents from Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services under a new Texas law regulating how proxy advisers present climate-related information. The companies are challenging that law, and a federal judge has enjoined Paxton from enforcing it.
Proxy advisers offer research and recommendations ahead of public company shareholder votes. They’re used by the largest institutional investors, giving their advice major financial weight. Glass Lewis and ISS are by far the two biggest U.S. firms.
