Elon Musk Blasts S&P Global Ratings for Dropping Tesla from the ESG 500 Index

Elon Musk launched a scathing attack on S&P Global Ratings after Tesla was dropped from the ESG 500 index. The index ranks companies and investments based on their long-term viability and adherence to the aforementioned standards and guides investors before their investments.

Earlier this week, S&P Global announced the removal of the most valuable car company from the sustainability list, citing reasons such as auto-pilot crashes, alleged racial discrimination, and poor working conditions.

"A few of the factors contributing to its 2021 S&P DJI ESG Score were a decline in criteria level scores related to Tesla’s (lack of) low carbon strategy and codes of business conduct," Maggie Dorn, senior director and head of ESG Indices, North America, at S&P Dow Jones Indices, wrote in a blog post.

Irked by Tesla's removal from the list, CEO Elon Musk called the ESG ratings a "scam" and said that "it has been weaponized by phoney social justice warriors." He even underscored that oil company Exxon Mobil Corporation made it to the top ten in ESG and slammed the S&P Global Ratings, saying that it "has lost its integrity".

In a series of tweets, Musk said that political attacks on him "will escalate dramatically in coming months," adding that Tesla is doing more for the environment than any company ever did.

Musk believes that Tesla does not get enough credit for its environmental efforts, and that is the reason why he has not held back in confronting personalities such as Bill Gates and even US President Joe Biden.

Recently, Musk's chat with Gates went viral, wherein it was revealed that the latter had a half-billion-dollar-short position in Tesla Inc. In the capital market, "shorting" or "short selling" means selling a security at a given price and buying it again at a lower price.

An enraged Musk reportedly told Gates to "get lost", saying that he would not take the latter's philanthropy on climate change seriously while he was eyeing profit over Tesla's loss. The Tesla boss has also criticised President Biden for not acknowledging his company's contribution towards creating over 50,000 jobs in the US.

Source: Republicworld.com