Sustainable Finance Newsletter - Fearless Girl's moment passes

• March 12, 2025

Everybody loved taking their picture with "Fearless Girl" when the bronze statue of a defiant child meant to call attention to boardroom diversity was installed in New York's financial district in 2017.

Eight years later, its symbolic moment may have passed. You can read more in my column this week, below. You will also find links to some new language from JPMorgan related to the "debanking" debate and to an interesting Bain & Co report.

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As 'Fearless Girl' sponsor retreats, so do diversity fund flows

When fund manager State Street installed the bronze statue known as "Fearless Girl" in 2017 to stare down Wall Street's massive "Charging Bull" sculpture, it was hailed as a breakthrough moment in financial messaging.

Even before the #MeToo movement took off, the statue and the fund it promoted became symbols of how public investment products could drive social change.

But vibes shift. On March 1 State Street's STT asset-management arm issued new stewardship guidance that dropped targets for the number of women and minority directors it expected to serve on company boards. It is part of a wave of pullback from diversity efforts by many U.S. companies, under threat of legal sanction by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

I think a reason many companies aren't looking to pick fights in defense of environmental or social issues is that some of their ESG-minded products have not turned into major hits. That's the case for many of the gender-diversity products like State Street's. You can read more in my column this week by clicking here.

Company news

JPMorgan JPM added language to its code of conduct to prohibit discrimination based on "religious views," under pressure from activists including Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom that have raised claims of "debanking." A JPMorgan representative said the new language mirrored previous changes.

Patricia Fahy, Democrat of Albany, and other New York state senators called on New York comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to sell pension fund shares in Tesla TSLA , citing poor recent performance of CEO Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker. A DiNapoli representative said the fund "remains committed to monitoring risk...and engaging portfolio companies, including Tesla" to maintain long-term value.

Fearful that Trump's tariffs will spark an economic downturn, U.S. retail investors are asking for more investment advice, questioning whether to buy the dip and looking for safer havens, my colleague Suzanne McGee reports.

On my radar

A bid by Republican-led states to block Democratic-led states from pursuing lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for allegedly deceiving the public about the role of fossil fuels in climate change was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A Bain & Co survey of more than 700 executives from the oil, gas and other industries found that despite record-breaking global clean energy investments last year, company leaders "have become less optimistic about when the world will achieve net-zero carbon emissions."

It's too early for a full accounting of how tighter rules on shareholder resolutions could change the 2025 annual meeting season. But investor activists, including the influential private investor John Chevedden and religious groups, at least have had measures approved for votes at Timken TKR and Citi C .