'Deep Red' Miss.: In my backyard

Mississippi office holders continue anti-ESG (environmental, social governance) rhetoric, but there's a massive green hydrogen hub taking shape right under their feet. 

The U.S. Energy Department launched an $8B hydrogen program in 2022, and some states' officials are scrambling for a piece of the pie - and in some cases putting partisan politics aside.

The latest example is 'Deep Red' Mississippi, where the firm Hy Stor Energy is working on a plan to transform the Magnolia State into a green hydrogen powerhouse. 

Mississippi is among two dozen states, with a plethora of elected Republicans, that have been railing against ESG corporate risk management principles. It's not a mystery.

In the context of climate change, one key way to manage risk is to decarbonize.

Fossil energy stakeholders have been pushing back, trying to steer investor dollars away from renewable energy ventures. Gov. Tate Reeves is a staunch anti-ESG'er ... mostly ... until hailing Steel Dynamics for the pumping of $2.5B into an existing site in the state. It was the largest economic development in state history. 

Steel Dynamics happens to be a founding member of the Global Steel Climate Council, which has proposed a new standard for greenhouse gas transparency in the steel industry. 

“This new standard will accelerate the actual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and provide key decisionmakers with transparent and consistent data to make informed decisions,” explained said Mark D. Millett, the company’s Chairman/CEO, in April. 

Steel Dynamics is beginning to walk the decarbonization walk. 

Among its recent moves is a new biocarbon venture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to electric arc furnaces, which will be part of the newly expanded campus. 

Steel makers are also eyeballing green hydrogen as a pathway to steel decarbonization, meaning hydrogen produced from water or other renewable resources instead of natural gas and other fossil resources ... Enter Hy Stor Energy. (CleanTechnica 05/15/23) ESG, Much? Mississippi Takes Green Hydrogen To The Next Level (cleantechnica.com)  

Watch Alabama Republican politicians try and do the same anti-ESG move. “This is a bad bill,” said Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro). “You’ve been working on three years of a bad bill. Just because you’ve been working on it for three years don’t make it right.”Alabama moves to ban ESG as GOP-led states target businesses over abortion, fossil fuels, guns - al.com