Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Do these groups achieve anything meaningful? Feels like the kind of thing companies sign up to so they can get some PR and say they're being 'responsible'.

Like Exxon was/is an ESG friendly stock, but Tesla isn't. Regardless of how you feel about Elon, the real impact both companies have on the environment shows the absurdity of all this corporate green washing nonsense.



They provided political cover and bogus argument that industry could regulate itself instead of proper government regulations being put in.


Yes, and now with a Trump presidency they don't need to pretend they care anymore...


They probably do still need to pretend they care, customer opinion isn't irrelevant. but they certainly don't need to convince the US government that they care anymore.


They can’t make decisions on that basis, because they’re only good for the next two years; Republicans are very likely to lose the House in 2026. Assuming anything resembling the current structure of the world holds together at all.


None of tgese businesses care beyond 6 months


Linking this to any former current or upcoming administration is just silly political bias and grandstanding. By your own admission it was already wholly ineffective.


Honestly I'd rather the facade fall so that real action can he taken. I'll take 4 years of unabashed abuse if it ends 30 years of faking solutions


So you're saying they lied under the democratic administration and it was tolerated/not detected?


*nominally democratic. The US government was bought a long long time ago.


Caring has no more capitL interests.

Also, capitalism is sociopathic at the first order so all we are talking about is trimming the sails to keep speed vs trying to get to a destination. Capital doesnt care what the destination is, it just wants to be first.

Line goed up

Using the word "pretend" mischaracterizes the so iopaths.


But don't you think it's concerning if they're not even attempting to keep up with appearances anymore?


I think “keeping up appearances” is too subjective to be meaningful. It seems like something that someone will always think they aren’t or are, so you have to poll people or whatever to figure it out. So it will lead to me chasing something I can’t know well.

I’d rather avoid these sort of meaningless labels and just focus on doing what I think is important.

Like it I wanted to reduce climate impact and I was a bank, I would set up a page that lists all the ways I impact climate.


Right and… isn’t this a step in the opposite direction…?


Myself I prefer they are honest about it. There's no value in a false sense of security.


This relies on the totally unsubstantiated view that a less appealing outward appearance is more honest.

If you believe corporations tend to fall short of their external appearances, then what reason do you have to believe this isn’t still the case, but from a lower basis?

I.e. you assume:

Before: 8 goodness points (apparent) = 6 goodness points (actual)

Now: 6 goodness points (apparent) = 6 goodness points (actual)

Wouldn’t your logic actually indicate their new goodness points (actual) should be 4?


No.

We should all stop being naive. A corporation only mandate is profits, always increasing ones. All else is secondary.

It's the role of elected governments to regulate that their incessant chase for profits don't harm society.

If society puts in place a government that doesn't care to regulate corporations in their harmful ways, well, in a sense society has spoken.


Honestly, I don't really know if I should or shouldn't be.

ESG actively allocated investment dollars that were specifically designated for socially and environmentally responsible businesses into oil & gas companies, so in that case keeping up appearances is actively making things worse than doing nothing.


It is concerning, but it’s a symptom of a problem that, if you are concerned, you probably knew about already.


Nope. I find it hopeful. Maybe people in general are sick of the pandering and performative nonsense and are finally realizing "awareness" is a bullshit made up thing for people to feel better while doing absolutely nothing useful. As others have pointed out, this sort of stuff is actively harmful once entities learn to easily game it.

This sort of thing has sucked the air from anyone actually doing useful meaningful things - since anyone paying attention just rolls their eyes when someone talks about being green or whatever. Sure, some companies and orgs actually are legitimately doing useful and interesting stuff - but it takes so much personal research into each one now that anyone blathering about how they are green is met with instant suspicion to anyone remotely paying attention to the space.

The less administrative and marketing driven grift the better, even if it's a tiny little baby step. This sort of thing has done more to harm the environmental movement than helped it from where I'm standing.


> This sort of thing has sucked the air from anyone actually doing useful meaningful things

Do you really expect real movement on climate change now?


I get that you are joking about Exon and Tesla but the story behind that is that Exxon actually has a responsive board while Tesla has very poor governance.

It has nothing to do with the E in ESG and was only referring to the G.


Fair enough that Tesla is disqualified for poor governance. Lacking the G is disqualifying, but lacking the E isn't? Tells you all need to know about the programme.


> Feels like the kind of thing companies sign up to so they can get some PR

Telling when they quit then and get bad PR.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: