The ESG Weekly: Stakeholders are not happy about Siemens' coal by association for the week of February 3.

Companies are finding they can now be guilty by association and attract the ire of stakeholders for something as simple as a railway. Siemens found this out after it invested a relatively small amount in a signaling system for a railway that connected a coal mine in Australia. Many of Siemens' stakeholders descended, and it got so bad that both the CEO and Chairman of the company had to weigh in and it did not go very well. This week we discuss what happens when a company decides to invest even a small amount in a controversial project.