ESG RIP: Review of Terrence Keeley’s ‘Sustainable,’ Part 3
Commentary
In the third of his four part review of Terrence Keeley’s Sustainable, Rupert Darwall writes that ESG rests on a vision of the free-market economy that says capitalism needs to be led by people with the right values, which raises the question: Whose values? This makes ESG inherently divisive, explaining the pushback ESG is now generating in red states. Keeley proposes a solution in keeping with the pluralism and diversity of modern America.
Sustainability is an open-ended concept capable of many diverse interpretations involving multiple conflicting trade-offs and real costs. Moreover, the goal of securing inclusive, sustainable growth contains a second duality: that of harmony between society and nature, on the one hand, and promoting harmony within society, on the other, the latter to address what Keeley calls our second systemic vulnerability—“growing income inequality and its corrosive impact on social cohesion.” This raises the question: Who decides? Keeley quotes Bono: “Capitalism isn’t immoral: it’s amoral. It’s a wild beast that needs to be led.”…