Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter - U.S. companies quietly boost LGBT policies

By Ross Kerber

Feb 11 (Reuters) - This is the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter, which you can sign up for here.

It's no secret that companies have dialed back their reporting on diversity matters, but a new report suggests changes at least on LGBT policies only have been rhetorical.

You can read that study via this week's main story, linked below. I've also included links to a story about human rights concerns at GEO Group, a major contractor for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and a look at the concerns of defense investors as the White House puts new policies in place.

Please follow me on LinkedIn and/or Bluesky. You can reach me via ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com

U.S. companies quietly boost LGBT policies

U.S. companies spent last year slashing references to their diversity, equity and inclusion programs after President Donald Trump came back into office promising to sweep aside such efforts. But a new report suggests many of the changes were mainly to stay under the radar.

In this year's edition of its Corporate Equality Index the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group, found a 65 percent decline in the number of Fortune 500 companies that responded to the group's survey of their workplace practices. It covered issues such as whether they provide equitable health benefits for LGBT employees and their families, and whether they maintain an "inclusive internal culture."

Only 131 of those companies filed submissions, down from 377 participants last year. Many of the dropouts included federal contractors, HRC said, a role that makes them especially vulnerable to political pressure because so much of their revenue comes from Washington, D.C.

But the data "do not indicate a rollback of workplace inclusion. Instead, the decline in submissions reflects a shift in how employers are approaching transparency in the current environment," HRC wrote.

Overall HRC said 534 companies earned a perfect score of 100, compared with 765 companies last year.

"Taken together, these results indicate that among companies choosing to engage with the CEI, workplace inclusion efforts not only remained intact, but strengthened through practical, policy‑driven action," the report states.

You can click here to read the HRC report.

Company news

Elon Musk unified his AI and space ambitions with a record-setting tie-up between his SpaceX rocket company and his artificial intelligence startup xAI, ahead of a big IPO planned for this summer.

Automaker Stellantis STLAM.MI took a $27 billion charge as it became the latest to scale back its electric-vehicle ambitions in the face of Trump administration actions to roll back subsidies, and weaker-than-expected demand.

Private prison operator GEO Group GEO.N tossed out a shareholder resolution over its human rights record. A major contractor for the U.S. Immigration Enforcement Agency, GEO has faced complaints of poor treatment of detainees and facilitating transfers to El Salvador's controversial CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador.

On my radar

I missed my chance to use the word "monopsony" - a market with one dominant buyer - in this story about how defense investors are worried about the Trump administration's latest foray into State Capitalism.

Indonesia's investment outlook has suffered as Moody's cut its outlook on the $1.4-trillion G20 economy, citing reduced policy predictability and MSCI flagged transparency issues.

A big strike was averted as the U.S. union the United Steelworkers reached a national agreement on pay and benefits, keeping 30,000 workers on the job at 26 companies running crude oil refineries and petrochemical plants.