Barron's - 11:13 EDT:
Tesla Got Kicked Out of the S&P 500 ESG Index. Why That's a Shock.
Excerpts:
...
Tesla (ticker: TSLA), a company that CEO Elon Musk says he founded to put the world on a path to a sustainable-energy future, doesn't have a comprehensive low-carbon strategy, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.
"A few of the factors contributing to its 2021 [ESG] Score were a decline in criteria level scores related to
Tesla's (lack of) low carbon strategy and codes of business conduct," wrote Maggie Dorn, senior director and head of ESG Indices, North America, at S&P Dow Jones Indices, in a blog post...
...
Tesla certainly would take exception to the safety assertion. The company produces quarterly reports that indicate
Teslas compare favorably with other vehicles on some safety metrics.
"For any element of an ESG score, whether it's the E, S, or G, disclosure is hugely important," Ray McConville, an S&P spokesman, told Barron's via email. "If there isn't a lot of information available, whether its publicly available information or information provided in our Corporate Sustainability Assessment survey, then that would negatively impact a score. So in the case of
Tesla and others, the issue is partly a lack of disclosure."
One thing that might help
Tesla is public relations.
Tesla doesn't have an active PR effort.
Tesla "needs to invest in PR to improve its safety brand equity which is becoming increasingly important in the minds' of EV customers," said Future Fund Active ETF (FFND) co-founder Gary Black. "
Teslas are the safest cars in the world, but EV consumers don't know it."...
Market and Beta really means even a diversified position is very risky ... placed my bets on Tesla because of that. Atleast for next 1-3 yrs while world transitions to EV's and Tesla is in a leadership position.
