{"id":24762,"date":"2022-08-24T09:34:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T08:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=24762"},"modified":"2022-08-24T13:19:02","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T12:19:02","slug":"b-corp-certification-making-businesses-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/b-corp-certification-making-businesses-sustainable\/24762\/","title":{"rendered":"B Corp Certification: Making businesses sustainable for people and the planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

B Lab is enabling businesses to become more sustainable and beneficial for their employees by becoming B Corp Certified.<\/h2>\n

Aligning sustainability and business is fundamental to minimising environmental impact and promoting a more regenerative economy, better practices, and transparency across industries. This is part of the message behind B Lab, a pioneering movement helping to connect and encourage companies of all sizes to improve the way they operate in order to be a vehicle for change against \u2018structural social and economic inequality, environmental degradation and resource extraction; and the decline of individual well-being and loss of social cohesion<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

B Lab was founded in 2006, and the organisation now boasts a network of over 4000 certified B corporations, or \u2018B Corps\u2019, in over 70 countries, and across 150 industries. So, what exactly is the B Corp certification and what benefits does it offer to businesses, people, and the planet?<\/p>\n

A movement for change<\/h3>\n

Becoming certified as a B Corporation is essentially a badge of honour highlighting a company\u2019s commitment to responsible business operations and the highest levels of sustainability, transparency, and accountability. In contrast to the increasingly archaic approach of working to merely turn a profit, achieving B Corp status enables businesses to evaluate and understand their purpose and how they can make a positive contribution to society – from local through to international level. In practice, this could mean ensuring high standards in their supply chain practices, supporting local charities or communities and curating positive relationships with their stakeholders and customers. What\u2019s more, they also become part of a global network of companies that share a similar outlook.<\/p>\n

Promoting greener, cleaner, and more transparent strategies is at the heart of the sustainability model. As well as measuring businesses\u2019 proactive contribution to the environment, becoming a B Corp also means the consumer can make informed decisions about the companies they wish to buy from. Each B Corp has a public profile in which they display their B Corp score and an impact report.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Find a B Corp\u2019 directory page allows people to search for B Corps who are excelling in specific impact areas – \u2018Community\u2019, \u2018Customers\u2019, \u2018Environment\u2019, \u2018Governance\u2019 and \u2018Workers\u2019 – or search for keywords, industries, and locations to further filter their results.<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, a B Corp Certification means that a company is devoted to high levels of employee satisfaction, helping workers to understand the \u2018why\u2019 in their work and the valuable contributions they are making. This, in turn, can attract more people to an organisation.<\/p>\n

The certification is recognised across multiple industries, from food and drink production to publishing and media, and the community continues to expand worldwide. Instead of operating in silos, the B Corp community facilitates connections with other B Corps, as well as those working towards certification so that they can share any challenges as well as valuable resources and ideas for best practice.<\/p>\n

Achieving B Corp certification<\/h3>\n

Being a B-certified company is undoubtedly rewarding, particularly because achieving accreditation is no mean feat; the process is rigorous, and companies are required to apply for recertification every three years. Many companies endeavouring to become a B Corp will likely need to re-submit their assessment to reach the required threshold of 80 points.<\/p>\n

The certification pathway can vary depending on several factors including size, revenue, and ownership structure. Once organisations have completed the initial assessment and achieved the minimum verified score of 80 points, they can then move on to the next step towards achieving certification.<\/p>\n

The typical process to achieve B Corp Certification involves:<\/p>\n