Anti-environmental investing law costing Texas taxpayers $445 million a year

To maximize shareholder value, some banks have also adopted ESG investing practices that evaluate companies on how well they are managing relevant risks including climate risk and governance practices as compared to their peers.


Because of Texas’ large oil and gas industry, some Texas lawmakers have chosen to interpret this as an attack on the state, rather than a shift in the priorities and preferences of a functioning market. In 2021, legislators introduced Senate Bill 13, which banned banks that had divested from the oil and gas sector from participating in public finance markets in the state. A similar bill, Senate Bill 19, banned state and local governments from contracting with lenders that are limiting business in the firearms industry. Both laws took effect in September 2021.

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