Volans and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) published Mobilising Trade Associations as a Force for Good: A Playbook for Companies (May 2025). The report offers a step-by-step approach for companies to ensure their trade association memberships are aligned with — and meaningfully advancing — their sustainability policy priorities.
Human Level’s Take:
- It’s more important than ever for companies to be part of trade associations aligned with their sustainability policies and values, especially as many companies with constrained resources and time are relying on trade associations to be their mouthpiece with policymakers on crucial topics like climate change, human rights and due diligence legislation.
- Volans and WBCSD point out that trade associations often wield more influence than individual companies due to their collective resources, expertise and ability to shape public and policy debates. Participating in these associations gives companies a significantly larger indirect policy footprint, especially when it comes to complex and at times polarised global challenges like climate change.
- Policymakers tend to give greater weight to industry associations because they represent aggregated industry views, often positioning them as authoritative voices within their sector or the broader business community.
- The authors suggest five steps for companies to take in order to ensure that their memberships advance rather than undermine their sustainability values, policies and priorities: 1) ensuring internal clarity and alignment on sustainability-related policy engagement; 2) being able to clearly explain what they want trade associations to align with or advocate for; 3) assessing associations’ alignment and deciding which memberships to renew or discontinue; 4) engaging directly with associations on desired policies and building leverage with other member companies that have aligned priorities; and 5) regularly reviewing memberships to ensure continued alignment with associations.
Some key takeaways:
- Aligning internally around a shared strategy: Companies can start by aligning around their internal goals and policy ambition, in order to lay the foundation for effective and unified engagement with trade associations. Policy engagement plays a strategic role in helping companies achieve their sustainability targets, particularly where progress depends on supportive regulatory conditions. At the same time, companies do not need to engage across all areas of policy. By identifying the policy areas most critical to their own sustainability objectives, companies can prioritise engagement where it will have the greatest impact.
- Communicating priorities clearly: The guidance emphasises that clear and specific corporate policy positions help trade associations align their advocacy efforts more effectively. Providing detailed, timebound and measurable goals linked to the company’s policy positions allows for a more accurate assessment of the ambition level and feasibility of trade association policies. Proactively communicating expectations and priorities to trade associations ensures they have the necessary information to represent company interests appropriately, rather than relying on assumptions or limited consultation. Ultimately this additional clarity can make company engagement with trade associations more fruitful.
- Assessing alignment, engaging associations and deciding whether to stay or go: To optimise their policy footprint, companies should assess how trade associations support or hinder their sustainability policy objectives by analysing alignment on specific issues and the depth of engagement. Priority should be given to associations where the company holds influence and where the association itself has significant policy impact. A meaningful trade association assessment looks at the details of policy engagement instead of top-line statements, and assesses the degree of engagement on each issue, not just whether it is broadly aligned or misaligned. Conducting regular assessments can help guide membership decisions, and public disclosure of participation can help companies identify like-minded peers to build collective leverage. Effective engagement with trade associations requires collaboration between internal sustainability and government affairs teams. Companies can also aim to prioritise engaging with associations where influence can realistically drive change, rather than those that are most misaligned. They can also focus efforts on getting the right infrastructure in place for thoughtful policies, i.e., working to reform the association’s policy development processes and leadership. Companies should also be prepared to leave the association if necessary. Finally, decisions on membership should consider how effectively an association supports the company’s policy agenda, and companies can consider proactive efforts to identify or create new, positively aligned associations.
