The U.S. Impact Investing Alliance celebrates a clear win for American workers today with the release of a final rulemaking by the Department of Labor (DOL), which ensures their retirement savings will be invested in line with prudent risk management practices.

The rule thoughtfully modernizes expectations for fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to consider financially material environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors including climate change to protect retirement savers and promote a resilient economy.

Given the recent wave of misinformed political attacks seeking to undermine the validity of ESG strategies, this rulemaking provides much needed clarity for investors and fiduciaries that ESG factors are indeed material. The common sense approach offered by DOL leaves investment decisions in the hands of workers and investment professionals, not at the mercy of politically motivated interests. We strongly support the final rule and applaud the DOL for its leadership on this issue.