Golden State Today

Paul Tice, Writer, Analyst, and Adjunct Professor, outlined the coercive pressure to comply with sustainability standards in investment decisions, underscoring the influence of third-party activists in controlling the process. Tice was a guest on a recent episode of Next Round Podcast.

“It's a coercive system; everyone is under pressure to comply,” said Tice on the Next Round Podcast hosted by the Pacific Research Institute think tank. “Since I have an energy background, the best analogy I could use for you is that it's like a natural gas pipeline. A pipeline basically works like a balloon. You put in a molecule of gas at point A, you take it out at point B. The only thing that allows you to do that is if the entire system is kept under pressure so you need to put compression stations all along the pipeline route.”

“Companies are under pressure to comply from investors,” Tice said. “Asset owners, asset managers, and that in turn, those investors are under pressure from third-party activists to comply. It's all about controlling the markets and controlling the people that work on Wall Street. ESG is designed to remove their agency, it forces them to look to an outside third party to make a decision on everything around an investment from a sustainability perspective.”

Tice has 32 years in fixed-income and credit markets, he's skilled in fund management and trading. He boasts 27 years of experience in energy and infrastructure investment, covering both buy-side portfolio management and sell-side research analysis. Tice contributes to publications like The Wall Street Journal and serves as an adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business, focusing on energy, infrastructure, and project finance.

Next Round is a weekly podcast put on by the nonpartisan think tank Pacific Research Institute. Topics explored on the podcast revolve around California politics and free market ideas in the state. Guests include elected officials, members of the media, and policy leaders. 

Pasadena, California based Pacific Research Institute, founded in 1979, is an advocacy organization whose goal is to “champion freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all individuals by advancing free-market policy solutions,” according to the group’s web site. Its president is Sally Pipes. 

This full episode is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.