Corporate Political Influence & Threats to Democracy

Deep analysis of how to incorporate CPR into financial institutions, with a benchmarking proposal to drive successful market signaling initiatives. (See pg 3-20)

This article urges companies to actively reduce the polarization that can impact their businesses, by carefully considering their public stances, promoting inclusivity, and fostering collaboration across differing viewpoints within their organizations and communities.

This article argues that Modern Portfolio Theory falls short in today’s interconnected and complex risk landscape, calling for “system-level investing” that integrates social, environmental, and economic factors to boost long-term resilience and sustainability.

Introduces the concept of “net positive advocacy,” which involves working with partners to advocate for policy that supports systemic solutions and net positive outcomes for all competitors. This requires courage and a shift in mindset, but actually helps de-risk both sustainable business strategies AND political interactions for companies. Their Readiness Test tool provides a useful conversation starter about the change in mindset required.  

As companies face increased pressure to advocate publicly for robust climate policies, this WRI report outlines three internal and four external barriers, including org charts and quarterly reports as well as trade associations and political winds, that present the biggest hurdles to implementation, and suggests ways to overcome them.

This framework is developed through a multi-stakeholder process and designed to gauge company progress against the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It provides succinct definitions for various core social indicators (CSIs), as well as a rubric to gauge company performance regarding these indicators. CSI 18 is their standard for responsible lobbying and political engagement, drawing from the Transparency International principles.