Giving Compass' Take:

• Kathrin Winkler discusses some important steps corporations have taken to join the conversation about relevant social issues.

• How can the actions of activist corporations encourage other companies to join in? What can we do to promote engagement further?

• Learn more about the incentives and impacts of corporate responsibility.

Last February, GreenBiz 19 hosted a panel on corporate activism. The panelists (Davida Heller of Citicorp; Bruno Sarda, then of NRG Energy; Alyssa Caddle of Bemis Associates; and Bill Weihl, previously of Facebook) were extraordinarily candid, informative and energized. They described how they decided whether to act, and the expected and actual ramifications — positive and negative — of choosing to act. Or not. And it was well-received.

So, we decided to do it again.

At the start of the session, I defined corporate activism as "taking a public stand on a policy question or advocating for sides on a social issue that is the subject of policy debate with intent to influence the outcome." I thought I knew the levers for companies to influence policy.

Turns out, there’s even more they can do.

The bar, it was clear from all four of our speakers, is higher than it used to be. It’s lovely that companies support a price on carbon. But they need to support actual policies and regulations that are on the table. (ExxonMobil supports "well-designed carbon pricing mechanisms." But did you see what it and its oil industry brethren did to defeat Initiative 1631 in Washington state?)

When people hear "policy" they tend to think "national." But where it’s happening, especially now, is in the states. And there is help to be had. Many of us in the sustainability community have worked with organizations such as Ceres, Advanced Energy Economy and others on federal policy. But, in fact, these groups are deeply engaged at the state level, and they have the information that can help companies understand what the impact is, what it’s going to take to get it passed, and what the political implications are. Ignorance is not an excuse anymore.

Read the full article about corporations taking a stand on social issues by Kathrin Winkler at GreenBiz.