via townhall:
“Undoubtedly, Sri Lanka’s dalliance with ESG has been a clarion call to the world. Following its president’s resignation, the South Asian nation is basically on the verge of collapse.
How did a country with a 98.1 out of 100 “E” score end up like this? Naturally, the nation rushed to become the first 100% organic farming nation in the world. In April 2021, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa proposed the country ban chemical fertilizer use in farming—a position he ran on during his 2019 presidential run. A group of 30 scientists warned him not to proceed, citing concerns from potential product yield drops. After the fertilizer ban was adopted, the price of rice reportedly surged 30%. By August, the country plunged into an economic crisis. When January rolled around, the country pulled the plug and announced one million rice farmers would be compensated a sum total of $200 million following the botched implementation of the program.
Sri Lanka was praised as a model ESG candidate for committing to carbon neutrality by 2050 and halving its nitrogen use. Today, it’s experiencing 54.6% runaway inflation.
The aforementioned Ghana, the Netherlands, and Sri Lanka case studies prove ESG policies have ruinous effects on political stability, economic growth, and inflation rates. And these won’t be the last countries with high scores to experience turmoil.
Canada, our neighbor to the north and holder of a 79.5 “E” score, has similarly proposed gutting fertilizer use by 30%. Naturally, this isn’t sitting well with Canadian farmers. And it shouldn’t.
Developing and developed nations need not rely on ESG metrics to measure success. Hinging economic performance on these subjective scores will incur harm and have no measurable positive impact on the environment.”
Get woke, go broke. For companies, for nations. We’re not immune,