On July 30, 2020 ICCR and the 138 member signatories to this comment letter wrote to express their strong opposition to the Department of Labor’s (the “Department’s”) proposed rule, “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments” (the “Proposed Rule”), set forth in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”).1 The Proposed Rule would impose significant analytical and documentation burdens on fiduciaries of benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) wishing to select (or allow individual account holders to select) investments that use ESG factors in investment analysis or that provide ESG benefits. 

They are concerned that the Proposed Rule will deter consideration of ESG factors by ERISA fiduciaries, and perhaps others whose regulatory frameworks follow ERISA, despite ample evidence that integrating such factors can improve performance.