McDonald’s Pigs and the SEC’s ESG

Carl Icahn, a billionaire investor and storied corporate raider, has mounted a proxy fight at McDonald’s Corp. to change how it sources it’s pork. At the moment, McDonald’s, and all other fast-food companies, source pork from farmers that use what are called gestation crates. These crates have caught the ire of Icahn and the US Humane Society for some time, and they decided to mount a public proxy fight to change the practice. We discuss what this means for McDonald’s and the future of pork producers. Then, we look at the first enforcement action ever made by the relatively new SEC Climate and ESG Task force against Vale over its misleading ESG disclosures on the safety of its tailings dams.