The S&P 500 index focus on companies excelling at ESG has removed Tesla from the “green” index.
“While Tesla may be playing its part in taking fuel-powered cars off the road, it has fallen behind its peers when examined through a wider ESG lens,” Margaret Dorn, head of ESG Indices, North America at S&P Dow Jones Indices, wrote in a blog spot.
The S&P 500 ESG index, that highlights companies excelling at Environmental, Social and Governance issues, features 308 companies. ESG became a top issue following a 2005 United National report describing the concept and the index was launched in 2019.
According to Dorn, claims of racial discrimination and poor working conditions at Tesla’s Fremont manufacturing plant are the reasons. The EV manufacturer is also under an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into fatal crashes involving its Autopilot driver-assist technology.
There were 35 companies removed this month from the index, also there were 36 new additions, including Twitter, Moderna and the Expedia Group.
Minutes after the news Tesla CEO Elon Musk said ESG is a scam since it “has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors” and that S&P Global Ratings has lost their integrity.
Musk later tweeted an internet meme about the leftist agenda.
