Right-Wing ESG Backlash Is Sparing the Fight Against Child Labor

Fernando Morales-de la Cruz was plying his trade: shaming the wealthy for investments in companies he claims benefit from child labor. Wearing a hoodie and baggy jeans, the 63-year-old Guatemalan activist looked out of place in January at the annual Davos conference, a gathering that’s synonymous with prestige and power.

He was targeting Klaus Schwab, the German economist and engineer who oversees Davos as founder of the World Economic Forum, which is funded by 1,000 of the world’s biggest corporations. Morales-de la Cruz plastered the posh Swiss mountain resort with a caricature of the usually elegant Schwab. In ...