B-Corps and sustainability specialist
It's not enough to just make a profit. Companies know this and are now keen to advertise their ESG credentials. What's a good way of doing this? Well, applying to become a B Corporation would be a start. Join Rebecca Wetten in this video as she explores the history and need for B Corp.
It's not enough to just make a profit. Companies know this and are now keen to advertise their ESG credentials. What's a good way of doing this? Well, applying to become a B Corporation would be a start. Join Rebecca Wetten in this video as she explores the history and need for B Corp.
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17 mins 33 secs
B corps were born out of a failure of law and regulation to hold businesses accountable for their impact on society and the environment. With the introduction of B Corps, companies prioritise both profits and ethics, alleviating social and environmental misbehaviour.
Key learning objectives:
Define a B Corp
Understand why companies should become B Corp
Outline the benefits and drawbacks of acquiring B corp status
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In 2005, Jay Coen Gilbert and Bart Houlahan sold their business called AND1 for millions. However, their new owners were completely uninterested in sustainability and focused on profits only. Feeling it was time for a change, they set up B Lab, a non-profit to help businesses grow and also do good. The first businesses were certified as B Corps in 2007.
B Corp was a response to the fact that business-as-usual wasn’t working; prioritising shareholder profits has too often come at the expense of people and the planet. B Corp wants businesses to compete to be not only the best in the world but the best for the world, with businesses alleviating social and environmental problems along the way to this journey and moving away from the idea of shareholder primacy.
A B Corp is a business that successfully manages to balance profit and ethics. A B Corp focuses on its triple bottom line: social, environmental and financial. Also known as the three P’s: people, planet and profit.
B Corp certification scrutinises a company’s entire operations. For example, the Norwegian Consumer Authority concluded that, if a brand markets their product as being less harmful to the environment but provides insufficient detail to back it up, it must be assumed that they are greenwashing.
B Corp certification is a highly respected global standard in corporate sustainability. With the arrival of the pandemic and the opportunity to “build back better”, as well as a heightened focus on climate change, interest in B Corps has risen significantly in the past year.
The community element is a big draw for many businesses; you can connect online via the ‘B Hive’ or meet in person at events, building client and seller relationships and knowing that you’re doing business with organisations you can trust.
Further benefits to companies who go for B Corp status, include the opportunity to build relationships, attract talent, improve their impact and show that they’re leading in their environmental practice.
B Corp is currently campaigning to change the UK Companies Act to ensure all businesses are responsible to people and the planet. By being B Corp certified, businesses are showing that they have chosen people and the planet alongside profit. Further down the line, when governments do introduce legislation, that will be a bare minimum.
There are a few instances where companies have been held accountable in proportion to the environmental and social damage they have caused. For example, fines paid by oil and gas companies as a result of oil spills run into the billions. But they are still not preventing spills from happening - ExonnMobil has been fined for over 388 incidents.
However, these are public failures. Many companies have failings on par with oil spills but haven't hit the headlines.
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