Elon Musk slammed the framework that evaluates companies' environmental, social and governance standards, flagging that tobacco firms tend to receive higher ESG ratings than electric-vehicle maker Tesla.
"Why ESG is the devil," the Tesla and SpaceX chief said on Twitter, in response to an article by Washington Free Beacon reporter Aaron Sibarium.
ESG is a set of standards meant to assess business practices in relation to sustainability and ethical concerns. An increasing number of financial-market participants use ESG-based ratings as a guidance for socially responsible investing – rather than simply buying assets they think will deliver the best returns.
They often use a 1-to-100 ratings scale, determined by research firms like S&P Global and Morningstar.
But critics of the framework say it encourages so-called "greenwashing", and fails to properly rate companies based on their social contributions.
"From S&P Global to the London Stock Exchange, tobacco companies are crushing Tesla in the ESG ratings," Sibarium had tweeted Tuesday.
"How could cigarettes, which kill over 8 million a year, be deemed a more ethical investment than electric cars?" he added.
Sibarium's article pointed out that S&P Global's latest ESG rankings gave EV maker Tesla a score of 37 – and tobacco giant Philip Morris an 84.
The London Stock Exchange gave British American Tobacco an ESG rating of 94, and Tesla a more middling 65.