Tesla is eliminated from the S&P ESG selection index
Various factors led to the expulsion
ARK Invest chief Cathie Wood finds dismissal “ridiculous”
Tesla is no longer part of the S&P ESG selection index for sustainable investments. The news was announced on May 17 by the S&P Dow Jones indices and immediately substantiated in a blog post. In it, the head of ESG Indices, Margaret Dorn, lists the various reasons that led to Tesla’s removal from the index. Generally, when postponing the S&P ESG, it was taken into account, inter alia, “Further development of the investor’s sentiment concerned about sustainable development”. Numerous high-profile names from the US-wide S&P 500 index, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (A&C), and NVIDIA, have returned to the selection fund. In addition to Tesla, however, there are other well-known companies that have not been included in the ESG index, such as Berkshire Hathaway, Johnson & Johnson, and Meta Platforms, Facebook’s mother. However, Dorn spent some time in the blog post to explain why the electric car manufacturer was not selected for the S&P ESG this time around.
The reasons for the eviction of Tesla
The group that ranked Tesla “Cars & Components” would improve overall thanks to the ESG score. But while Tesla’s performance remained “fairly steady” year-over-year, it fell in the ranks with other peers in the group. The reason for this is the decline in various criteria, such as the lack of a low-carbon strategy and in the area of codes of business conduct. In addition, there are some current and future risks, such as involvement in controversial incidents. There have been allegations of ethnic discrimination and poor working conditions at Tesla’s Fremont factory. In addition, Dorn criticized in a blog post the conduct of an electric car manufacturer with an investigation by the US traffic authority NHTSA into various accidents involving the Tesla ‘Autopilot’ driver assistance system. As Dorn concludes: “While Tesla has a role to play in getting gas-powered vehicles off the roads, it lags behind its peers when viewed through a wider ESG lens.” Obviously, the US group would have the option to re-enter the EGS selection index the next time it is reallocated.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Tweets
Tesla boss Elon Musk was not enthusiastic about the decisions of the S&P Dow Jones indices. In doing so, he vented his frustration at being kicked off on his favorite platform, Twitter. He called the ESG as a whole a “scam” and criticized the fact that the oil company ExxonMobil was ranked in the top ten sustainability companies in the index.
Exxon made the top ten in the world for environment, society and governance (ESG) according to the S&P 500, while Tesla was not on the list!
ESG is a scam. She was armed by false social justice fighters.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022
In his opinion, Musk is not alone. ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood also expressed her dissatisfaction with the decision via Twitter. She just called the decision “ridiculous” and added that it wasn’t worth answering.
Ridiculous. It deserves no other answer. https://t.co/zwISYknbKB
– Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) May 19, 2022
The head of ARK Invest calls the decision “ridiculous”
The star investor has long been one of Tesla’s biggest bulls and has invested in an electric car maker with several of its ETFs. While the strong price performance of the electric car manufacturer in particular catapulted the flagship ETF ARK Innovation ARK Invest to unimaginable heights last year, the fund, which is aimed at emerging companies, has already had to come to terms with double-digit losses that are no less important. due to the weak performance of Tesla stock. Despite this, Wood remains true to its investment strategy. As CNBC recently said, she expects “spectacular returns” in the next few years. Now it remains to be seen whether the star investor will be right with this optimistic assessment.
Editors of finanzen.net
The leverage must be between 2 and 20
No data
More news about Tesla
Image credits: Cindy Ord / Getty Images for Bloomberg Businessweek, viewimage / Shutterstock.com