Dow Jones Indices has removed electric carmaker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) from its sustainability-focused widely-followed S&P 500 ESG Index, citing issues including racial discrimination claims and crashes linked to its autopilot vehicles
• Lack of carbon strategy and codes of business conduct has prompted S&P to remove Tesla
• “ESG is an outrageous scam!” Musk said
The organization also said other factors, including the EV maker’s lack of published details related to its low carbon strategy or business conduct codes, contributed to the decision.
Margaret Dorn, the senior director of ESG indices at S&P Dow Jones for North America, in an interview, said even though Tesla is contributing to reducing emissions with its EVs, its issues and lack of disclosures compared to other electric carmakers should raise concerns for investors looking to judge the company across environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
“You can’t just take a company’s mission statement at face value, you have to look at their practices across all those key dimensions,” she said.
Shares of the electric carmaker tanked almost 8% following th news.
“Exxon is rated top ten best in world for environment, social & governance (ESG) by S&P 500, while Tesla didn’t make the list!” he wrote on Twitter.
A picture posted by Musk on Twitter said the ESG score determines how compliant a business is with the leftist agenda.