NYSE withdraws proposal to list Natural Asset Companies 1 week after Attorney General Labrador’s letter of protest
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – In a win for Attorney General Raúl Labrador and a coalition of 24 other states, the New York Stock Exchange withdrew a recently proposed rule change that would have allowed it to list “Natural Asset Companies” (NACs) on the exchange.
NACs are a novel corporate structure designed to take land off the market to prohibit productive economic uses in the name of environmentalism.
“I applaud the NYSE for listening to the counsel of this coalition of Attorneys General and withdrawing this ill-advised and illegal rule change,” Attorney General Labrador said. “This is a huge win for our states and the interests of our constituents as we continue to defend against the inherent dangers of these ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) schemes and their activist agenda.”
The creation of NACs and proposal to list them on the NYSE was a new front in the effort to promote ESG policies at the expense of economic growth. According to the NYSE Group’s former president, Stacey Cunningham, “[w]ith the introduction of Natural Asset Companies, the NYSE” would “provide investors an innovative mechanism to financially support the sustainability initiatives they deem critical to our future.” Cunningham characterized the proposed rule change as “another example of the NYSE tapping into our community to drive meaningful progress on ESG issues with a solutions-based approach.”
Despite the charitable endorsement from the former NYSE president, the coalition of 25 Attorneys General expressed their strong opposition to the proposed rule change and urged the Securities and Exchanges Commission to disapprove it in a January 9th letter, linked below.
