Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) members have a long history of supporting calls for diversity and justice, including respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and addressing the negative impacts of policies and practices on communities of color. ICCR-member proposal filings on racial justice issues continue to grow and are the second-most frequently filed category of resolutions for 2022, largely because of 32 resolutions that ask for racial equity audits (REAs) and civil rights audits (CRAs). We see these as connected to other proposals about the negative racial justice impacts of employment practices, including those that seek improved representation in the workplace and better pay.

Last year, SOC Investment Group and the Service Employees’ International Union asked systemically important financial companies to conduct racial equity and civil rights audits to assess the differential impacts of their products, services and overall corporate practices on non-white stakeholders and communities of color. The proposals are building momentum for using REAs to combat systemic racism. For instance, last summer the U.S. House of Representatives considered legislation that would require banks to carry out racial equity audits every two years. The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance examined the issue last October, as well, predicting more attention to the issue.

In 2022, the number of proposals calling for REAs and CRAs has more than tripled. ICCR members are asking companies including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Mondelēz International, Tyson Foods and Wells Fargo to oversee third-party audits analyzing the adverse impact of company policies and practices on the civil rights of their stakeholders, and to provide recommendations for improving their civil rights impacts, incorporating input from racial justice and civil rights groups and employees. The Apple proposal received a majority vote of 53 percent. SEIU this year announced the campaign on January 6th.

While many companies have issued statements in support of the movement for Black lives, REAs and CRAs are a tool to hold these companies accountable for the statements. Last year, SEIU successfully negotiated withdrawals at Blackrock and CoreCivic after the companies agreed to conduct REAs; meanwhile, support was in the double digits for those resolutions that went to a vote at State Street, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo. This year, State Street has responded to an SEIU proposal by agreeing to conduct the requested racial equity audit; Tyson similarly agreed to conduct a racial equity audit in response to a proposal from Investor Advocates for Social Justice.

ICCR members and partners are proud of this record and look forward to pushing companies for more accountability, particularly where problems are endemic in their business practices.

More information on racial justice proposals from ICCR members, with descriptions of all the resolutions and voting recommendations, appears in ICCR’s 2022 Proxy Book, released in February.

Nadira Narine
Senior Program Director, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility