Influencing Power

This July 2005 report ranks the world’s top 100 companies on the transparency of their lobbying activities and whether it demonstrates support for their public statements on corporate responsibility. Results show that U.S. businesses are in the forefront when it comes to openness about lobbying government. Only the U.K. fared better in this respect, while other industrial countries like France and Japan lagged behind. In Japan, of the 12 companies in the survey only one, Toyota, made any reference to the issue of lobbying. Nearly all of the top scoring businesses are from sectors such as energy, materials, and health care, which have heavy direct social and environmental impacts.