Tesla owner Elon Musk has called social stewardship “the devil” after investment data firm S&P Global gave the electrical automobile company a lower ESG rating than Marlboro manufacturer Philip Morris International.
“Why ESG is the Devil…” Musk wrote on Twitter on Tuesday in response to a reporter’s coverage of the ESG results that showed Tesla getting a disastrous 37 out of 100.
Meanwhile, a carcinogenic cigarette maker scored a shocking 84 points.
“How can cigarettes, which kill over 8 million people a yr, be considered a more ethical investment than electric cars?” Washington Free Beacon journalist Aaron Sibarium tweeted.
“One answer: Tobacco woke up,” he added, to which Musk replied that he condemned ESG.
To find out its ESG results, S&P analyzed 8,000 corporations against 1,000 data points, including but not limited to climate strategies, labor practices, stakeholder engagement, codes of business conduct and board diversity, in accordance with his website.
Tesla’s “average” rating of 37 was a mix of environmental, social, and governance rankings of 60, 20, and 34, respectively.
Meanwhile, the tobacco corporations circled across the multi-billion-dollar maker of electrical cars.
British American Tobacco scored an ESG rating of 88, while Philip Morris International scored 84 and Imperial Brands – which sells fine-cut tobacco, rolling paper and cigars – scored 42.
Oil giant Shell also overtook Tesla with a rating of 41 ESG.
A spokesperson for S&P Global said “company performance is comparable inside a given sector, not across industry groups”, noting that “tobacco corporations and automakers are judged by their performance and relative to their peers of their industries, not by one another. “
The Post contacted Tesla for comment.
Nonetheless, Tesla soared above Musk’s other enterprise, Twitter, which scored just 12 points – “low” by S&P Global standards.
Twitter’s economic rating was a dismal zero, while its social rating was just eight, and its governance rating hit 21.
The stark difference in ESG performance – which investors use to make sure their money goes to economically responsible missions – raises the query of where Tesla goes incorrect.
The pioneering manufacturer of electrical vehicles prides itself on its mission to “speed up the worldwide transition to sustainable energy.”
It also touts its sustainability efforts in its annual “Environmental Impact” reports, which state that battery-powered cars “significantly” reduce emissions per mile in comparison with gas-powered vehicles.”
As of 2023, greater than 4 million Teslas were reportedly on the road worldwide, while the World Health Organization estimated that there are 1.3 billion tobacco users worldwide.
“Tobacco kills half of its users” WHO states on its websitewith over 7 million deaths from direct tobacco use and 1.2 million from exposure to second-hand smoke.