Addressing External Barriers to Policy Leadership

Recognizing that the right policies enable companies to meet climate targets, this Framework introduces a structure that companies can use to ensure their advocacy efforts align with their climate priorities. 

This article draws on the Erb Principles for Corporate Political Responsibility to guide companies in navgating social outrage—urging them to ground advocacy in core values, engage employees early to build legitimacy, and embed ethical deliberation into everyday operations rather than issuing reactive or superficial statements.

This report engages more deeply with global stakeholder expectations for lobbying disclosure, detailing calls for transparency not only on spending but also on lobbying positions, trade association memberships, and alignment with sustainability goals. It argues that voluntary disclosures remain inconsistent and insufficient, and recommends standardized reporting frameworks to strengthen trust, accountability, and policy coherence. 

This report highlights the strong investor demand for transparency in political spending, with lobbying transparency proposals receiving 31% median support in 2024, highlighting pressure for corporate accountability post-Citizens United. 

This report reveals that since 2010, U.S. corporations and trade associations have contributed over $1 billion—more than 40% of total funds—to six influential "527" political organizations, significantly impacting state-level elections and policies, often in ways that conflict with their publicly stated values and pose reputational risks. 

This CPR Decision Tool and Executive Conversation Guide is part of a suite of tools and resources that make it easier for companies to take a principled and responsible approach to a specific public affairs decision. Specifically, it is meant to help them apply the Erb Principles for CPR to weigh whether and how to engage in a specific political scenario.

The EU’s new AI Act—the world’s first legal framework for artificial intelligence requires companies to treat AI as a real risk, with rules around labeling AI content, ensuring human oversight, protecting data, and monitoring system performance. With steep penalties for noncompliance and similar U.S. guidance emerging, the piece urges boards and leaders to bring AI under the umbrella of existing risk, ethics, and governance frameworks—treating it not as a tech issue, but as a core part of responsible corporate strategy.

Outlines steps for companies to implement non-partisan time-off policies for voting, covering legal compliance, leadership support, clear policy creation, and promoting civic engagement through flexible schedules.

Drawing on insights from over 500 directors, NACD highlights five governance dilemmas boards must navigate in 2025—including balancing innovation with risk, long-term strategy with short-term pressures, and engagement vs neutrality on social issues. It also addresses the debate over prioritizing subject-matter expertise versus leadership experience in director recruitment. 

This briefing is the first in a series that applies effective corporate climate engagement to a particular sector - in this case, transportation. The brief provides five key facts board directors need to know about corporate climate policy engagement in relation to road transport; a snapshot of the current policy and corporate advocacy landscape for road transport and five steps board directors can take to support effective corporate climate policy engagement in the automotive and trucking industries.

A guide to selected video clips (and some transcripts) from the Erb Institute’s Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce (CPRT) Expert Dialogues hosted from March 2021 to April 24, featuring conversations with a diverse range of advocates, experts and executives from across the political spectrum, to explore what it means for companies to use their political influences responsibly. A very useful resource for educators, practitioners and associations to spark conversation and action. All clips are coded with keywords for easy selection by topic.

This HBR collection offers practical guidance on how companies can engage with social and political issues at work, from CEO activism to employee dialogue, and includes a piece by Ed Dolan that highlights the Erb Principles as a framework for responsible corporate political engagement.

Named one of the best businesss books of 2024 by the Financial Times, this book outlines how businesses can more effectively navigate a new ethical landscape.

This paper warns that companies risk backlash when engaging in political debates beyond their core business. It argues for an explicit commitment to “non-posturing” —which requires focusing on transparency, stakeholder alignment, and voluntary initiatives instead of symbolic activism or reactive statements. 

Amid rising political backlash, most companies are recalibrating—not abandoning—their ESG and DEI agendas. This piece highlights a shift toward quieter, stakeholder-focused strategies rooted in authenticity, measurable impact, and alignment with business goals. It notes how terms like “ESG” are being replaced with less politicized language, and how scenario planning and coalition-building are helping leaders navigate polarized environments without losing credibility.

As a company’s engagement in social and political issues becomes increasingly fraught, this article lays out decision-making principles companies can use to determine whether and when to engage in social and political issues.