The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that investors seem to have realized there is less to environment, social and governance (ESG) standards than meets the eye. The Globe's Eric Reguly writes that at best, its value to society and to portfolios is overstated; at worst, it is a con job dressed up in a green package. ESG needs a radical overhaul because the category is too broad, too nebulous and almost impossible to measure: the letters represent too many targets. For instance, despite Tesla's status as providing zero-emission vehicles, the S&P 500 two years ago punted the company from its ESG index because S&P was highly critical of Tesla's workplace and governance standards. Meanwhile, S&P kept ExxonMobil, one of the world's biggest privately owned emitters of greenhouse gases, in the index. Another problem is ESG greenwashing. For several years, big mining companies, including BHP, Anglo American and Teck Resources, have been busy selling or spinning off their fossil-fuel assets, notably coal, to reduce their carbon footprints and pretty themselves up for ESG investors. These corporate theatrics do nothing to clean up the planet. The fossil fuels are simply burned by new owners.