Elon Musk slams S&P Global ESG scores for giving Malboro a HIGHER investment rating than Tesla
has hit out at investment data firm S&P Global after it gave a lower Environmental Social Governance (ESG) score than Philip Morris International, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes. The Tesla CEO made the comments on on Tuesday, writing: 'Why ESG is the devil...' and sharing an article which slammed the rating practice which awards companies for employing inclusion tsars. Tesla has an overall low score of 37 out of 100, compared to Philip Morris International which has a score of 84. This despite cigarettes being responsible for 8 million deaths per year, while Tesla is attempting to protect the environment by facilitating the move to sustainable energy. Musk has previously criticized the woke rating practice of ESG scores, which encourage investors to put their money into supposedly responsible companies with a positive mission. The Twitter CEO called ESG a 'scam' that 'has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors' after oil major Exxon was rated in the top 10 by S&P 500's ESG Index and Tesla was excluded back in May 2022. The S&P 500 rates companies out of 100 in each category to give an overall impression of its environmental, social and governance risk, opportunity and impact. Ratings can be based on factors such as board gender diversity, undertaking inclusion training or participating in carbon-offsetting initiatives. Tesla has since been added to the index allowing fund managers and retail investors tracking the index to buy Tesla stock. The electric car company, which defines its mission as 'accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy', scored better on the Environmental scale, netting a score of 60. However, Tesla scored only 20 for Social, and 34 for Governance, bringing its score lower. By comparison, Philip Morris International, the makers of Marlboro cigarettes, scored 84, with rivals such as British American tobacco scoring 88. Tesla has made negative headlines for its social practices, such as in response to a union organizing drive earlier this year. The workers at the Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, claim they were sacked after the campaign, Tesla Workers United, was announced at the factory. Arian Berek, one of the former employees, who is also an organizing committee member, stated in a press release at the time: 'I feel blindsided, I got Covid and was out of the office, then I had to take a bereavement leave. 'I returned to work, was told I was exceeding expectations and then Wednesday came along. I strongly feel this is in retaliation to the committee announcement and its shameful.' Tesla did not comment on the firings. Widespread criticism has also emerged of the miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo endure in order to mine cobalt needed for Tesla products. A series of images taken earlier this year from inside mines in the country, where 90 percent of the world's cobalt is mined and used to make electric batteries, raised uncomfortable questions such as the use of child labor. Cobalt is the chemical element found in almost every tech gadget that uses a lithium-powered battery on the market today - a smartphone, tablet or laptop requires a few grams of it, while an electric vehicle requires 10kg. While tobacco companies are not included in the S&P 500's ESG Index like Tesla, they are still given an ESG rating by the organization. The datapoints are used to determine eligibility for joining or being excluded from the index. Some tobacco companies, despite being excluded, in fact score much higher than Tesla in the organization's woke ratings. Philip Morris International, the makers of Marlboro cigarettes, scored 84, with rivals such as British American tobacco scoring 88. Cigarettes are still responsible for an average eight million deaths a year, according to the , but Philip Morris International has scored highly, 84, in the Social category and 83 in Governance. Commentators have suggested this may be in response to company initiatives such as empowering female tobacco farmers, which the company boasted of in last year's . Both Philip Morris International and British American tobacco also promote their scores on which Tesla does not currently participate in. A spokesperson for Philip Morris told DailyMail.com the companies purpose is to 'deliver a smoke-free future by focusing our resources on developing, scientifically substantiating, and responsibly commercializing smoke-free products that are less harmful than smoking, with the aim of completely replacing cigarettes as soon as possible.' As such 'the companys approach to sustainability addresses its ESG priorities through eight impact-driven strategies.' Another of Elon Musk's companies, Twitter, scored very low on the S&P Global's ESG scale. The social media site scored just 12 out of 100, with a score of 8 in the Social category. The firm's reputation has been rocked since Musk bought the platform and took over as CEO in October last year, including mass layoffs and revoking previously agreed working arrangements. Tesla and S&P Dow Jones Indices did not immediately respond to request for comment.