As climate and equity proposals lose steam, activist investors are targeting junk food, soda, and alcohol in the name of corporate responsibility.
Once a Wall Street buzzword, ESG—Environmental, Social, and Governance—has become a political flashpoint and a corporate headache. Investor enthusiasm for ESG is clearly waning. The Manhattan Institute's Proxy Monitor project has tracked such proposals for years. In 2024, it found that zero environmental or social policy proposals received majority shareholder support at Fortune 250 companies. But that doesn't mean ESG is going away. Instead, it's evolving—and its next battleground could be your favorite candy bar or soda.
After years of climate and racial equity-focused proposals, ESG activists are now shifting their attention to nutrition. The latest campaign appears to be against "unhealthful products." Academics are branding this movement "ESG + Nutrition," arguing that investors should aim to "align financial returns with benefits for society and the planet."
In 2023, Nestlé found itself at the forefront of this new effort when a group of institutional investors demanded the company "rebalance its sales towards healthier products." Similar campaigns have been pushed at Kellogg's, Kraft Heinz, Unilever, and soda giants Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
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C. Jarrett Dieterle is a nonresident senior fellow at the R Street Institute and a legal policy fellow for the Manhattan Institute.
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