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Republicans assert that agreements among businesses to promote environmental goals, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance goals, or ESG, violate the Sherman Act because they reflect a “collusive effort to restrict the supply of coal, oil, and gas,” as five Republican Senators wrote in a letter to U.S. law firms in 2022.

In 2022 and 2023, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee and 19 red states launched sprawling investigations into the world’s preeminent ESG programs, including Climate Action 110+, the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, through which many of the world’s largest financial institutions pledged to pursue net-zero goals.

The following week, 11 Republican-led states sued the world’s three largest institutional investors—BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street—alleging they illegally conspired through ESG pacts to reduce coal production among companies whose stock they jointly own.

The Republican antitrust offensive has transformed the ESG landscape, dismantling many of the world’s top industry initiatives even before courts have had a chance to weigh the antitrust claims being asserted.

The rapid dissolution of ESG pacts in the face of Republican legal pressure has raised concerns that years of private climate organizing may come undone under the threat of antitrust litigation, irrespective of its legal merits.