Geopolitical Ignorance vs ESG: Doing Business with Despots

Germany is by far Iran's largest trading partner in the EU, with a regime responsible for the most egregious human rights violations that propagates the destruction of Israel.

Many European corporations, among them self-proclaimed ESG Leaders, also intensified business relations with Qatar, which harbors and finances the political leadership of the terrorist organization Hamas. Last year, VW alone paid 1.4 billion euros in dividends to its investors from Qatar.

The extensive business relations with Russia, which were further intensified especially by many German and Austrian companies after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, are mentioned here only in passing. The Austrian OMV payed 6.8 billion euros to Russia for gas last year, many times the amount of Austria's financial aid to Ukraine.

As much as these corporations advertise their commitments to sustainability and ESG, when investing abroad or seeking foreign investors, prospects of short-term profits seem to be far more important for them than ethical considerations or a long-term geopolitical risk analysis.