Vulcan Materials Company

Rating Overview

Vulcan Materials Company is Medium Risk.

Vulcan Materials 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. Vulcan Materials 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	Medium Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	High Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	Lower Risk
Political Actions	Lower Risk

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:

Medium

Rationale:

Vulcan Materials integrates ESG into its business practices. From its 2022 ESG Report: “The four working groups under the ESG Steering Committee consist of subject
matter experts who develop our goals in key areas of ESG performance: Employee Engagement and Well-Being, Supply Chain and Operations, Products and Services, Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, Transparency, and Disclosure” (1). However, the company has not canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (2).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Vulcan Materials likely uses Double the Donation as its charitable giving platform. Double the Donation vets charities according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate List, which includes mainstream libertarian, conservative, family, and religious advocacy organizations (1)(2)(3). The company’s charitable giving guidelines require that organizations abide by its nondiscrimination policy, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, thereby excluding some religious charities (4).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Vulcan Materials required all employees to complete anti-bias and diversity training by 2022 (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:

Vulcan Material’s former CEO, Tom Hill, signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which includes a commitment to promote DEI through bias education training in the workplace, strategize on DEI programs/initiatives with other signatories, and engage boards of directors when developing and evaluating DEI strategies (1)(2). The company supports DEI within its business practices, hosting a DEI Committee (3)(4). Vulcan Materials supports DEI within its business practices. From its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report: “The Council meets monthly to discuss DE&I efforts, and it works to align
ongoing DE&I programs with broader business imperatives. DE&I leaders
chair their own division-specific council that focuses on DE&I goals” (5). The company supports ESG within its business practices. From its 2023 Sustainability Report: “Our ESG Steering Committee is composed of executives from across the organization, is led by the Senior Vice President and General Counsel, and reports to the
Company’s Senior Leadership Team” (6).