The Government Affairs & Collective Action (GACA) Impact Topic guides companies to play a leadership role in fostering shared understanding and implementing solutions toward an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative economy beyond their own operations. It requires companies to collaborate with external stakeholders and broader systems to magnify their impact, including by contributing to their operating countries’ economies and infrastructure. Companies do this through responsible lobbying, undertaking collective action, and responsible tax practices.
Why this Matters
As businesses influence global policy, their role in advocating for social responsibility and fair practices is crucial. By working together with governments and communities, companies can amplify their impact on social and environmental issues, creating lasting change.
1. Responsible Lobbying
Companies establish policies and practices for responsible and transparent lobbying that align with social and environmental interests. This ensures that companies are transparent, consistent, and responsible with their lobbying practices.
GACA1 The company takes a responsible and transparent approach to lobbying. |
|---|
GACA1.1 The company has a public policy on responsible lobbying. | All company sizes | Year 0
Year 3
Year 5 |
GACA1.2 The company publicly shares its lobbying positions and political contributions each fiscal year. | Large, Extra Large, and Extra Extra Large companies | Year 0
Year 3
Year 5 |
GACA1.3 The company publicly shares its lobbying positions and political contributions each fiscal year. | Companies Without Workers, Micro, Small, and Medium companies | Year 3 Year 5 |
2. Collective Action*
Companies engage with other stakeholders and systems to catalyze broader social and environmental impact. This encourages large companies to leverage their influence and resources to take collective action on systemic social and environmental challenges.
GACA2 The company works collaboratively to advance collective social or environmental impacts. |
|---|
GACA2.1 The company takes part in collective action to advance social or environmental impacts. | Companies Without Workers and Micro companies | Year 0 (1)*
Year 3 (1)
Year 5 (1) |
GACA2.2 The company takes part in collective action to advance social or environmental impacts. | Small companies | Year 0 (1) Year 3 (2)
Year 5 (2) |
GACA2.3 The company takes part in collective action to advance social or environmental impacts. | Medium companies
| Year 0 (1) Year 3 (2) Year 5 (2) |
GACA2.4 The company takes part in collective action to advance social or environmental impacts. | Large and Extra Large companies
| Year 0 (2)
Year 3 (4)
Year 5 (4) |
GACA2.5 The company takes part in collective action to advance social or environmental impacts. | Extra Extra Large companies
| Year 0 (2) Year 3 (4) Year 5 (4) |
GACA2.6 The company includes multi-stakeholder collaboration or public policy advocacy as one of its collective actions. | Large, Extra Large, and Extra Extra Large companies | Year 3
Year 5
|
*The number in parenthesis indicates the number of collective actions required for each year.
3. Responsible Tax Participation
Companies establish a policy for responsible and transparent tax participation. This supports fair contributions for the development of local social and infrastructure programs. They publicly report their tax payments for transparency.
GACA3 The company takes a responsible and transparent approach to taxes. |
|---|
GACA3.1 The company has a public policy on responsible taxes. | Extra Extra Large companies | Year 0 Year 3 Year 5 |
GACA3.2 The company publicly shares its country-by-country reporting each fiscal year. | Extra Extra Large companies | Year 3 Year 5 |
Appendix
*Collective Action Guidance
All collective actions must contribute to a more sustainable and equitable world. Companies select collective actions from a list of options.
Collective Action Options
Collective Action | Meaning | Examples |
|---|
Mentorship - The company mentors others in its industry, profession, or value chain to advance their social or environmental impacts. | Supporting external stakeholders in the company’s industry, profession, or value chain to advance their social or environmental impacts. | Formal arrangements where individuals or organizations are partnered to share knowledge through training, advising, and providing feedback, among other actions. |
Thought Leadership - The company uses thought leadership to drive systemic change towards an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative economy.
| Broad sharing of ideas, insights, and knowledge that establishes recognized expertise in a particular field in order to inspire action and create meaningful social or environmental impact. | Teaching or giving guest lectures at educational institutions, creating blog posts and publishing research papers, speaking at public forums.
|
Multi-stakeholder Collaboration - The company collaborates with multiple stakeholders to advance social or environmental impacts. | Working with external stakeholders such as professional associations, academic institutions, or other businesses with an aim to deliver specific and measurable impacts. | Developing sector- or profession-specific guides, promoting sustainable innovation, building shared infrastructure or investing jointly in community projects.
|
External Research - The company contributes to external research to advance social or environmental impacts.
| Providing financial or in-kind contributions, or data sharing to external research initiatives. | Sharing data with a university or NGO for social or environmental research, or funding travel or equipment for social or environmental research by another organization. |
Public Policy Advocacy - The company promotes public policy to advance social or environmental impacts. | Engaging directly or indirectly with public officials or political leaders and representatives to influence public decision making, or attempting to influence public opinion. | Engaging with political representatives, creating a public petition, or publishing a call to action to support legislation with positive social or environmental impacts. |
Further Resources
Topic | Resource |
|---|
Responsible lobbying
| Responsible Lobbying Framework [EN] Towards Responsible Lobbying (U.N. Global Compact) [EN] OECD Recommendation of the Council on Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying and Influence [EN]
|
Specific advocacy outcomes
| AAA Framework for Climate Policy Leadership (Environmental Defense Fund) [EN] The 4 A's of Climate Leadership - Policy (We Mean Business Coalition) [EN] Influence Map - Reports on Climate Policy Engagement [EN]
|
Positive impact on society or the environment | |
Responsible taxes | |
Release 1 - 11 July, 2025 - based on B Lab Standard v1.0 - © B Lab 2025