In a world overflowing with information, knowing how important data is gathered, interpreted and processed is just as crucial as the data itself. At Social LobbyMap, we believe transparency, whether into corporate lobbying approaches or our analysis of the practice, is essential to driving political engagement that supports human rights.
Our work uncovers the hidden networks of influence that shape policy, public opinion and legislation outcomes, particularly around the ‘S’ in environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks. By shining a light on these dynamics, we aim to encourage political engagement that defends human rights policies, while empowering investors, civil society and other key stakeholders to hold the business sector accountable for attempting to weaken or undermine human rights legislation.
Behind every map, graph or insight at Social LobbyMap lies a careful and methodical approach to collecting, refining and analysing data. As we prepare to launch our latest piece on how our methodology can be applied to lobbying in international organisations, this piece shares how we do what we do – so you can understand not just the results but the rigorous approaches and care that go into producing them.
Whether you’re a researcher, journalist, policymaker or just curious about the power of corporate influence in society, we hope this breakdown helps you see the value of the data-driven approach we take to exploring corporate lobbying and its impacts on human rights legislation.
The big picture
Our research analyses how companies and trade associations shape laws and policies through corporate lobbying. We explore how these actors engage with policymakers and what it means for supply chains, workers and communities. We aim to uncover the shape of the influence created by corporate actors and track how that aligns with ESG frameworks. Our goal is to uncover the contours of corporate influence and assess how it aligns (or conflicts) with ESG goals, particularly in the social dimension.
Initially, our research focused on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) but the methodology we’ve developed is designed to be adaptable – allowing us to apply it to other sectors, legislative contexts and organisations. This flexibility helps ensure that corporate actors are held accountable when they work against policies intended to protect people and the planet.
Behind every policy decision, there are actors shaping outcomes. Social LobbyMap reveals the role of companies and trade associations in influencing human rights policies globally. We analyse both what they say and what they do to promote or block stronger protections for workers, communities and ecosystems.
How the research works
Social LobbyMap is powered by InfluenceMap’s systems, with tailored adjustments to reflect the human rights context of the research.
Using a wide range of publicly available sources—including consultation responses, meeting records, email exchanges, corporate websites, media articles, external reports, and freedom of information requests—we assess corporate lobbying through nine key indicators. These indicators are aligned with international frameworks such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the ILO Core Labour Standards.
Each indicator (or theme) helps us evaluate how businesses and trade associations shape human rights policies, ESG compliance and supply chain transparency. Within each theme, we explore a number of smaller sub-indicators to offer greater detail and more granular evaluation into an organisation’s position.
Our analysis currently covers 74 companies and 48 trade associations across multiple industries, focusing on sectors with significant policy influence. This includes:
- 25 companies in metal and mining
- 26 companies in finance and finance sector related business services
- 15 companies in energy production and electric utilities
- 8 companies in apparel
- 45 trade associations, including cross-sectoral lobbying groups
By analysing corporate lobbying practices of these actors, we’re able to shine a light on who is pushing for stronger protections, who is trying to weaken or delay regulations and who is staying silent or taking mixed positions.
In line with Influence Map’s methodology scoring rules, we categorise companies and trade associations based on their lobbying behaviour toward human rights policies and ESG regulations. The scoring system ranges from 0 (Strong Opposition) to 100 (Strong Support), as follows:
We score specific statements according to the above nine key indicators, allowing for variation even within a single document. This means different statements from the same source can receive different scores—ensuring a nuanced analysis of how organisations approach human rights legislation. By tracking these positions over time, Social LobbyMap offers a clearer view of corporate influence on human rights policies, labor protections, and sustainability standards.
We also assess the relationships between companies and trade associations by assigning a relationship score to entities that are members of lobbying groups. This helps us understand how closely trade associations are aligned with the companies they represent, with the score reflecting the strength and significance of those connections.
Accuracy is as important to us as transparency. Most of the statements we include in our research come from official pages – such as where the EU collects submissions, corporate websites and verified social media accounts – which we treat as reliable. Media reporting presents more challenges as corporate entities may be misquoted or misrepresented. Our engagement process allows organisations to flag any information they believe is not reflective of what was said.
Ethics and transparency
We’re committed to maintaining transparency and ethical standards across our research. Our open methodology means our scoring and assessment criteria are publicly available, making sure that while we advocate for greater accountability in the corporate lobbying space, we hold ourselves to the same standards.
To strengthen our approach and ensure it’s fit for purpose, we collaborate with human rights experts, labour organisations and ESG researchers to validate and strengthen our approach. While our methodology is powered by InfluenceMap, it has also been shaped by key stakeholders who supported Social LobbyMap to ensure we were assessing the right information at the right time for the right outcomes.
Our approach is continuously improving. Our initial approaches were reviewed and refined in collaboration with stakeholders, but that work is ongoing. Evolving policy landscapes will allow us to repeat this process of refinement and development periodically.
Ahead of publication, our engagement process offers organisations a right to reply. This gives corporate entities the opportunity to challenge or clarify the data we’ve gathered. By encouraging this exchange, we’re able to shine a light on best practice for corporate lobbying and highlight areas for improvement organisations may not even have been aware of.
What’s next?
Our upcoming report, supported by the Open Society Foundation (OSF), explores the potential application of the Social LobbyMap methodology to assess corporate lobbying occurring in international settings. It explores how our approach – and the research data accumulated using it – could increase clarity on lobbying activities in international organisations and provide insights on how to enhance global policymaking, or if another approach is necessary. The report applies the Social LobbyMap methodology to the UN Business and Human Rights (UN BHR) agenda, demonstrating how it can be used to analyse lobbying in international negotiations. By extending our analysis beyond the EU and the CSDDD, we aim to uncover how corporate lobbying influences human rights policy on a global scale.
Looking ahead, we plan to expand the research to include more entities, themes and legislative contexts. By expanding the research appropriately, we’ll get a more complete picture of how lobbying shapes policies that impact people and planet. By doing so, we hope to foster greater transparency across the board, improve legislative outcomes and reinforce the importance of human rights and ESG frameworks in global governance.