This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Whether the issue being discussed is climate change, abortion rights, civil rights, or something else, there is no doubt that corporations can have a major effect on the implementation of policy. There is perhaps no area where this is more apparent than the issue of gun violence and mass shootings. This potential for change exists because of multiple factors. First, hundreds of mass shootings have taken place over the course of the past decade, with little to no action taken to prevent them. At the federal level, gun control legislation has been non-existent since the expiration of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 2004. Additionally, action to address this issue has been limited at the state and local level. This is where the power of corporations comes into play. Any company has the power to decide that they no longer want to run their business in a state or city that refuses to comply with safety standards deemed  necessary. The safety standard might refer to gun violence or to...