ABB
Rating Overview
Rating Criteria
Rating Criteria Detail
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria:
Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.
Risk Level:
MediumRationale:
ABB received a score of 50 on the 2025 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. The company recruits employees based on sexual identity issues. The company discriminates against vendors that do not promote divisive sex and gender policies, indicating it prioritizes sexual issues over merit (1)(2). However, ABB has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (3).
Criteria:
Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.
Risk Level:
HighCriteria:
Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.
Risk Level:
HighRationale:
ABB‘s HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company forces employees to attend multiple, controversial trainings on gender identity, sexual orientation, transgender issues, and divisive racial ideology. The company provides gender transition guidelines for its employees (1)(2). ABB’s chairman Peter Voser signed Catalyst’s Champions for Change pledge, indicating its support of DEI in its leadership composition through the establishment of gender and racial targets (3)(4). The company is a signatory of the Gender & Diversity KPI Alliance, appearing to prioritize diversity over merit in its business structure through the establishment of gender and racial targets for its leadership composition and its support of DEI in its hiring and promotions (5)(6). The company does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (7).
Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria:
Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.
Risk Level:
MediumRationale:
ABB signed an open letter endorsing the Equality Act, a contentious proposal to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act by adding sexual orientation and so-called gender identity as protected categories. The legislation would, among other implications, grant biological men access to women-only spaces such as sports teams and public restrooms, and compel healthcare providers to deliver sex-denying healthcare (1).
Criteria:
Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.
Risk Level:
Medium