W R Berkley Corp – Lobbying Governance & Transparency

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Lobbying Governance

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Limited	W. R. Berkley discloses a basic structure for monitoring its political engagement, noting that “The Business Ethics Committee of the W. R. Berkley Corporation Board of Directors oversees our Political Spending Policy and receives regular reports on the Company’s political spending activity from our Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer,” and that “On a quarterly basis, expenditures for federal, nonpartisan political activities are reported to W. R. Berkley Corporation’s Vice President – Federal Government Relations, who prepares and submits the required disclosure filings.” It also identifies a responsible executive, stating that “Our Vice President-Federal Government Relations is responsible for federal government affairs, including monitoring and reporting on legal and legislative developments… and liaising with and providing support to key industry trade associations or coalitions.” These statements indicate an oversight body, named individuals, and a recurring reporting routine, which together suggest a limited governance process for direct and some indirect lobbying activities. However, the disclosures focus on compliance and political-spending reporting and do not describe any mechanism to assess whether lobbying positions—either by the company or its trade associations—are aligned with the company’s climate or broader ESG objectives; for example, the company “does not disclose any process for reviewing trade-association positions or for ensuring that its advocacy supports its stated climate-risk ambitions.” Likewise, we found no evidence of a dedicated climate-lobbying policy, no publicly available review or audit of lobbying alignment, and no reference to board sign-off on lobbying strategy. Overall, this indicates limited but explicit oversight of lobbying activity without a clear framework for climate-lobbying alignment or accountability. View Sources	D

Overall Assessment

Analysis

Score

Limited

W. R. Berkley discloses a basic structure for monitoring its political engagement, noting that “The Business Ethics Committee of the W. R. Berkley Corporation Board of Directors oversees our Political Spending Policy and receives regular reports on the Company’s political spending activity from our Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer,” and that “On a quarterly basis, expenditures for federal, nonpartisan political activities are reported to W. R. Berkley Corporation’s Vice President – Federal Government Relations, who prepares and submits the required disclosure filings.” It also identifies a responsible executive, stating that “Our Vice President-Federal Government Relations is responsible for federal government affairs, including monitoring and reporting on legal and legislative developments… and liaising with and providing support to key industry trade associations or coalitions.” These statements indicate an oversight body, named individuals, and a recurring reporting routine, which together suggest a limited governance process for direct and some indirect lobbying activities. However, the disclosures focus on compliance and political-spending reporting and do not describe any mechanism to assess whether lobbying positions—either by the company or its trade associations—are aligned with the company’s climate or broader ESG objectives; for example, the company “does not disclose any process for reviewing trade-association positions or for ensuring that its advocacy supports its stated climate-risk ambitions.” Likewise, we found no evidence of a dedicated climate-lobbying policy, no publicly available review or audit of lobbying alignment, and no reference to board sign-off on lobbying strategy. Overall, this indicates limited but explicit oversight of lobbying activity without a clear framework for climate-lobbying alignment or accountability.

View Sources

Lobbying Transparency

Overall Assessment	Analysis	Score
Limited	W. R. Berkley Corporation offers only limited transparency on its climate-policy lobbying. The company indicates very generally that it “responds annually to the NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey and publishes these responses on our website” and that its climate-risk processes consider “regulatory requirements,” but it does not name any specific bills, regulations, or jurisdictions it has tried to influence. It likewise fails to identify the mechanisms or targets of any lobbying, providing no detail about meetings, letters, consultations, or the policymakers engaged, other than a broad reference to participation in trade associations. Finally, the disclosures do not describe what policy changes or legislative outcomes the company is seeking; no explicit positions, goals, or rationales are set out. As a result, readers receive only minimal information about how, where, or why the firm seeks to shape climate policy.	D