Tesla ESG investor says Elon Musk is a scam

One sustainable investing pioneer thinks the electric carmaker still believes in the cause and that Tesla CEO Elon Musk denounced business use of environmental, social and governance ESG factors as a scam last week.

John Streur, president of Calvert Research and Management, praised Tesla's disclosure of workforce diversity data earlier in May, and said Tesla remains in his company's ESG indexes even though it was dropped out of the S&P 500 ESG Index last week, prompting Musk's fury.

Streur said of Tesla in a recent interview that they think they've fully embraced operational excellence.

Asked if Musk believes in ESG Streur, I can't speak for him, but I think his company does. Streur's take comes at a time when ESG investing is facing criticism such as conservatives who say questions like how to cut carbon emissions should be settled by government, not investors.

Calvert, a Morgan Stanley unit, holds full weight of Tesla in products like its Calvert US Large Cap Core Responsible Index Fund.

Musk's tweets indicate that several Tesla insiders also support ESG improvements, including director Hiro Mizuno. On May 7 Tesla isn't denouncing ESG investments Mizuno. The investor relations head Martin Viecha ESG ratings from Mizuno and Tesla should focus on real-world impact.

Tesla, Viecha and Mizuno didn't immediately make a statement.

Streur said that the new diversity details that Tesla released this month were a mess, and that a majority of its investors backed a resolution Calvert had filed.

As Tesla grows, Streur said it will face more ESG risks to manage related to issues like mining and the location of facilities.