Argonne National Laboratory

Rating Overview

Argonne National Laboratory is Lower Risk.

UChicago Argonne LLC is Medium Risk. The company often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. The company occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Lower Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

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:

Lower

Rationale:

Argonne has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Argonne does not appear to discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Argonne appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its mentorship program. From its article Argonne receives funding to advance diversity in STEM: “Argonne is partnering with minority-serving institutions to mentor undergraduate and doctoral students” (1). The company does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (2).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Argonne is a signatory to Equal By 30, a “a public commitment by public and private sector organizations to work towards equal pay, equal leadership and equal opportunities for women in the clean energy sector by 2030”. Signatories commit to “promote gender diversity activities, in areas of recruitment and career advancement”, “integrate a gender lens into all levels of our work”, and “integrating equality principles into our organization and policies” (1)(2). The company is committed to full decarbonization by 2050 (3). The company supports DEI within its business practices. From its Research Code of Conduct: employees must “foster a diverse and inclusive research environment that welcomes a diversity of thought and approaches” (4).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

In 2020, Argonne donated $42,556 to Planned Parenthood Great Pains, $33,249 to Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, and $26,667 to Planned Parenthood of Illinois (1). In 2019, the company donated $206,056 to Planned Parenthood Great Pains (2). In 2018, the company donated $35,000 to Planned Parenthood of Illinois (3). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of Argonne using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (4).

Criteria:

Uses corporate political actions and/or financial contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level:

N/A

Rationale:

Argonne does not operate a PAC or engage in lobbying at this time (1)(2)(3).