Help lead the way in building a sustainable and inclusive economy
What are B Corps
B Corporations (for short, B Corps) are certified businesses that meet a standard of excellence in regard to verified social and environmental performance, stakeholder transparency and legal accountability. B Corps are led by visionary leaders and optimists (called ‘heroes’ by B Corp) and can be found across a multitude of business sectors. As a B Corp, you will become a valued member of the growing community within a global movement publicly supporting economic systems change. The B Corp movement advocates for moving away from ‘greed’ and towards ‘good’, as the new core responsibility of businesses should be the equal protection of all stakeholders and not just shareholders. Essentially, B Corps have a measurable impact in five main business areas: workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment.
Why become a B Corp?
Historically and up until recently, economic systems were modelled to focus on profit at all costs. Only recently have we understood to what extent this ethos fundamentally has aggravated the health and fortune of both our society and the planet. Climate change is not waiting for us to make good decisions. Climate change is happening now. Bloomberg reports on how we are experiencing “heatwaves, to floods, to droughts and mega rainstorms […] It’s not just ‘crazy weather. It’s the world at 1.2 degrees of global warming.” Becoming a B Corp is about looking ahead rather than being reactive; it’s about taking part in advancing the global race to net zero carbon by 2050. Becoming a B Corp will support achieving the nearing 2030 environmental targets, such as discussed in the COP26 in November 2021 in Glasgow. Understanding how you can balance the three pillars of sustainability (people, planet and profit) is a key stepping stone to becoming a B Corp!
How to become a B Corp
Any company can apply to B Corp’s impact assessment. This evaluation rigorously looks to find two main features within your company’s operations and culture:
- Impact management: as a B Corp you are great at measuring, managing and reporting your impact across your entire business value chain. You must score 80 points or more to certify.
- Mission Lock: a B Corp will actively consider the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders. They commit to this by amending their Articles of Association.
A quick company snapshot takes around 30 minutes to complete, whilst the complete assessment requires a maximum of 3 hours. Answering a series of questions will unlock a sustainability score, which you can compare to many other businesses.
However, becoming a B Corp can mean more than implementing ethical business conditions and environmentally friendly practices. Fuelled by the Covid-19 pandemic and a consequential shift in long-term survivability stakeholder governance, 2020 saw a sharp spike in aspiring B Corporations. In fact, becoming a B Corp is also about response and resilience. Some B Corps decided for the salary at a management level to be reduced to improve the compensation of workers that had to be furloughed. Protecting suppliers in a time of crisis proved to be equally challenging, particularly in developing countries. However, some heroes ensured partners in their value chain received personal protective equipment and hygiene provisions to combat the pandemic; some others even turned their business model upside down to solely focus on supplying help.
Regardless of B Corp, it is essential to take accountability for your social and environmental impact which means helping to lead the way in building a sustainable and inclusive economy. We must move on from a world that looks up to shareholder value and focus on creating economic systems that benefit all groups, whose lack of support an organisation would cease to exist.
Ecofye helps companies accelerate their climate action. Write to us at hello@ecofye.com for an introduction or visit us on our platform Ecofye+.
