The rise of global “Environmental Social & Governance” (ESG) is essentially mercantilism being disguised as environmental stewardship, and something Americans should be concerned about, Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
In mercantilism, which was prominent during the Colonial era, nations sought to grow the state through regulation of certain economic sectors, as a means to compete in a global trade-based hierarchy, typified by the control Britain then exerted on American cotton and tobacco exports.
Roberts cited the recent government collapse in Sri Lanka, which had instituted bans on chemical fertilizers deemed environmentally unfriendly. The ban, among other factors, led to greatly decreased harvests, shortages and eventually unrest that caused Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign and evacuate his Colombo palace earlier this year.
“There’s a 100% correlation” between pursuit of ESG goals and such instability, Roberts said. “I actually think it’s a version of mercantilism happening in the 21st century under the guise of environmental stewardship.”
Farmers gather with their vehicles next to a Germany/Netherlands border sign during a protest on June 29, 2022, against the Dutch government’s nitrogen plans.
(Vincent Jannink/ANP/AFP via Getty)
“I hate that the people of Sri Lanka and the Netherlands are having to face the unrest and the financial concerns that they have. I don’t wish that on anyone,” he continued, adding that he and others have been sounding the alarm over ESG governance leading to implications such as that.
He told Fox News Digital the E.U. and other governments in the developed world are, whether directly or indirectly, convincing countries like Sri Lanka to adopt ESG in hopes of receiving attention and, more importantly, financial support.
“[Government officials] from Europe in particular are very clear that the incentives… the European Union [and] major European governments talk about for developing countries like Sri Lanka are all oriented around those countries implementing the ESG agenda entirely,”
