Improving the opportunities available to people tends to improve economic productivity, so it's hard to argue it is a total waste of money.
On the other hand, removing mentions or attempts to improve inclusion of these groups in the face of rising racism and sexism has no real upside unless you're a racist or misogynist. Purges of this sort don't have any real economic motivations, it's pure ideology.
One was more of an investment, the other is more destruction.
Of course while the DEI scrubbing is dangerous to just some people, the scrubbing of climate-related language is just genocidal.
