Bthe have championed B-corporations as the way forward for better businesses.
Certified B Corps are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. They aim to use businesses as a force for good. This is how they describe their mission…….
“Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.”
But becoming a B-corporation is not the only way to becoming a better business. There are many certification schemes that operate in the different areas of business. B-Corporations maybe unique in taking a holistic approach, but in specific areas of business there are other forms of certification, such as Investors in people in the area of “workers”, ISO14001 in environmental standards and Business in the Community (hopefully self-evident what that is).
Then there are the UN 17 Sustainable development Goals (known as SDGs). Unsurprisingly many of the certification schemes look to incorporate or link with the SDGs.
So lets have a look at some options
- Environment based Certification
- ISO14001
ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b) comply with applicable laws, regulations, and other environmentally oriented requirements; and (c) continually improve
ISO14001 is about the processes that lead to the creation of an organisations product, but are not linked at all to product itself. So in theory a nuclear weapons manufacturer could achieve ISO14001.
The focus is on management controls, with, as a minimum, the ability to deliver against the environmental laws that apply in a jurisdiction. ISO 14001 will ensure you have the systems in place to deliver what you promise. But it does not set the targets, the business does. So whilst giving reassurance that promises will be kept, it does not drive a business to set tougher targets, or strive to be best in class.
- Carbon Trust Standard
The Carbon Trust Standard is an independent certification scheme from The Carbon Trust, certifying an organisation’s impact in respect of:
- Energy usage and greenhouse gas (CO2e) emissions
- Water usage, management and effluent
- Waste management and disposal.
The carbon trust now offer three standards
- The Carbon Trust Triple Standard for Carbon, Water & Waste
- The Carbon Trust Standard for Supply Chain (CO2 focussed)
- The Carbon Trust Standard for Zero Waste to Landfill
Companies that are “Standard bearers” (the carbon trust’s name for companies that have passed) tend to be very large and not those that you would necessarily think to be at the forefront of environmental action.
- Forest Stewardship Council
This is an example of a certification designed to counter a specific problem, namely deforestation. It appears on all types products that come from trees – from natural wood to high quality paper. The overall aim is to significantly improve the sustainability of forests, with associated benefits for forestry workers and the local communities.
Whilst this is a worthy aim, by focussing just on forest management, FSC certification does not pick up the wider environmental and social issues that drive deforestation.
- “Workers” or “Team” based Certification
- Investors in People (IIP)
Investors in People is a standard for people management, and offers accreditation for meeting the standard. For 28 years it was owned by the UK government but in 2017 became a Community Interest Company.
As a result of being the government accreditation system it is dominant in this space
Investors in People accreditation can be achieved by any type of organisation, including businesses, schools, NHS trusts and voluntary bodies.
The accreditation system has 9 performance indicators based on the features of organisations that consistently outperform sector norms. As up to 1 in 3 UK organisations have been accredited then the outperformance can clearly be small. This is reflected the four levels of accreditation. The top level of IIP accreditation, platinum, is held by less than 1% of all businesses with any form of accreditation.
IIP is a positive driver of good practise. Getting any form of IIP accreditation means better than average, but it does not mean sector leading. That requires gold or platinum accreditation.
- Institute of Learning & Management
The ILM is a professional body that champions the role of leadership and offers accreditation of leadership training schemes. So it is narrow accreditation that focuses on people who are or will be in management positions, and it is the training that is accredited rather than the organisation itself
- “Community”
- Business in the Community (BitC)
BitC “believe that the prosperity of business and society is inextricably linked”. It was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales 40 years ago. Over the years it has refined and expanded its reach so now it includes governance, purpose and values, and climate action, in addition to diversity, health & wellbeing, and upskilling communities.
Members tend to be large established organisations, perhaps reflecting the royal link.
BitC have a Responsible Business Map, which was built on the UN SDGs, placing a ‘Healthy Business’ within ‘Healthy Communities’ and a ‘Healthy Environment’. Then there is a measurement tool – the Responsible Business Tracker (RBT), which enables an assessment of performance against the Responsible Business Map. A business can benchmark themselves against sector peers, use the tool to identify gaps in responsible business behaviour, and also identify best practice.
The issue with the RBT is that is only open to members of BitC – so you and I cannot see it, nor see the scores of any company.
- No certification – just action against the UN SDGs
This approach, which we have seen in a number of businesses, is worthy of praise. There would be something humble about doing the right thing, and not shouting about it.
Except most businesses that take action feel absolutely obliged to publicise it, and usually in some depth. Unfortunately, most people’s attention spans are short, so sadly the 30 pages explaining how and why your company is aligned to SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 is not going to be read.
Just to be clear – we are saying align with the SDGs, and if possible go beyond. But either just do it, or, if you are not going to certify, find your own form of very simple communication. (PS as Marketers we can help with this)
Or loop back around and re-evaluate becoming a B-Corporation. Again, we can help.
- In summary
The reason certifying as a B Corp is becoming so popular is there is not a mainstream certification scheme outside of B-Corps certification that indicates that you will be at the cutting edge of your industry.
And an increasing number of people know what it means and value it.
Bthe 