The Biden Labor Department will soon finalize a new rule on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investments, and one big question remains: When will fiduciaries be permitted to take ESG values into account as they select investment options for 401(k) plans?

The Department of Labor, which has sent its final version of the rule to the White House for approval, has wrestled for more than 30 years with when and how fiduciaries can consider non-economic ESG factors. It issued guidance related to this question in each of the Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to Treasury & Risk, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited Treasury & Risk content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Thought leadership on regulatory changes, economic trends, corporate success stories, and tactical solutions for treasurers, CFOs, risk managers, controllers, and other finance professionals
  • Informative weekly newsletter featuring news, analysis, real-world case studies, and other critical content
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Retirement & Benefits
Analysis