How Companies Take Action to Address Dysfunctional Politics

This post summarizes the Center for Political Accountability’s Guide to Corporate Political Spending, which provides best practices for implementing the CPA-Zicklin Model Code. The Model Code identifies a company’s broader societal and democracy obligations and responsibilities that should govern its political spending decisions. This new Guide spells out what concrete steps and actions management should follow as it makes spending decisions and evaluates the accompanying risks. 

This tracker provides an overview of federal and state investigations into corporate ESG practices, highlighting lawsuits over misleading ESG claims by firms like BlackRock, government probes requesting information from asset managers and climate organizations, and legislative efforts aimed at limiting ESG considerations in investing. It offers essential insight into the shifting legal and reputational risks companies face in ESG governance.

This guide provides a good overview of how the current environment developed for companies and some tips that business leaders can use to navigate through the conflicting pressures.

This report explores the financial impacts of growing political instability in the U.S., emphasizing how shifts in policy and governance affect corporate decision-making, risk assessment, and long-term value. It outlines the importance of aligning business strategies with evolving political landscapes to protect financial interests. 

This report argues free enterprise supports both individual prosperity and societal well-being, advocating for competitive markets over government intervention to ensure long-term economic growth.

This framework guides companies to align lobbying with climate goals, focusing on transparent reporting, board oversight, and annual reviews to support efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

This report outlines how corporate greenwashing tactics have become more sophisticated, shifting from exaggerated claims to subtler misrepresentations and legal obfuscation. It highlights emerging regulatory gaps, critiques industry self-regulation, and calls for more robust public accountability frameworks to ensure environmental claims align with actual business practices. 
 

This article explores the need for companies to think about political responsibility, not just social responsibility.

This article summarizes the rationale for corporate political responsibility and explains the four Erb Principles, which are an actionable, non-partisan template that companies can use to decide whether and how to engage in political influence.  

This paper provides a deep and detailed examination of how economies and businesses fare under leaders who purport to be both pro-business and populist. With the increase in the number of populist leaders throughout the world, this question has become increasingly pressing. 

In this article the authors highlight how the Erb Principles for Corporate Political Responsibility identify common ground between the debate about shareholder value versus stakeholder considerations, and offer a roadmap for more responsible participation by businesses in our political system.