A US-based membership organisation has released ESG and corporate political spending guidelines and best practices to help executives ensure their corporate political influence activities are transparent, deliberately managed, and aligned with their publicly stated corporate objectives and values. The guidelines, issued by the Leadership Now Project, note investors’ increasing scrutiny of corporate political influence activities, citing BlackRock’s insistence that these are “consistent with their public statements on material and strategic policy issues”, it its 2021 stewardship report. The guidelines focus on three principles: transparency, alignment of political contributions with company values, and support for stable and healthy democracy.
