Even prior to the most recent U.S. Supreme Court term, the crescendo of voices in opposition to progressive policies were becoming a forceful, if not to say cohesive, polyglot. More ominously, what began as mere sound became fury and then metastasized into action, then into policy and finally into law.

We see a confluence of two main factors at work, each tugging in opposite directions: On the one hand, boardrooms reel from increasing environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulations, while at the same time, coordinated attacks from portions of the political class have transformed anti-ESG sentiment into legislation and policy—and in some instances, litigation.