CPR Forum 2025 asks companies to ramp up their civic engagement

On July 4th, our second CPR Forum took place at the European Academy Berlin. Together with around 50 representatives from politics, business and civil society, we discussed “Corporate Political Responsibility in Times of Eroding Trust”. We would like to thank all panelists and participants for their insightful contributions, the EAB and POLITIKUM for the joint organization and the sponsors Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung and Evonik for their support!

In view of the democratic threat scenario from Putin and Trump to the AfD, “the political restraint of companies stands in contrast to the need to intervene.” Tolerance, openness and the rule of law are prerequisites for successful business. The message is clear: "Get political! Civic-mindedness is important." Instead of withdrawing from the public realm, company representatives can use their international perspective to stand up for globalization, freedom and an open society.

In analog and digital communication spaces, business can address milieus that politics finds increasingly hard to reach. “Those who practice democracy in the workplace also strengthen it across society.” Commitment must come from the management level (“tone from the top”) and the workforce (“employee activism”) in order to have a lasting effect. Ideally, CPR is widely spread throughout the company. For example, supervisory boards could play a more active role by backing the management board and asking “the right questions”.

On this basis, the participants cited a plethora of encouraging CPR examples: digital debate training, political education courses, but also “business diplomacy” behind the scenes, for example by arranging meetings between politicians on key issues such as migration. One cross-cutting topic was the formation of alliances in order to pool strengths and reduce the risk of political retaliation against individual companies. Here, the business community has not yet sufficiently understood its political power.

Overall, innovative narratives and technologies are needed for political mobilization without using the “wrecking ball”. For Europe's democratic resilience and self-assertion, it is the duty of decision-makers to spread well-founded optimism.

It is time to recognize the treasure that companies represent to strengthen democracy.