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It’s March and it’s officially B-Corp month. Let’s celebrate by talking a little more about what the month entails, what B-Corps do, and how they work to protect the planet.
Put simply, B-Corps are the kind of businesses that the world needs desperately. The ones that place the planet over profits. The businesses that are transparent, keen to meet the most righteous standards of social and environmental impact, and are accountable to all its stakeholders.
And since it’s March (which is officially B-Corp Month) it’s time to amplify the vision these types of firms bring to this world and to promote the efforts that B-Corps make to tackle injustice and equality. Most importantly, all these efforts have a positive impact on people and the planet.
So, if you’re a B Corp certified firm, it’s time to get involved with B-Corp month and showcase how your business can change the world. It’s the high time you launch your #BehindtheB campaign to show how you are achieving complete sustainability for your business for which you’ll find this B-Corp month campaign toolkit handy.
And if you’re not a B-Corp, then there’s a whole movement and plenty of information surrounding the B-Corp certification and things related to it. So, let’s get into it.
When a company is called B-Corp, it essentially means it is a B-Corp certified company – a certification that is achieved only after a firm has been assessed on a number of stringent impact indicators.
Officially –
“B-Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.”
So, a ‘B-corporation’ or a ‘B-Corp’ are the new types of companies that meet the highest standards for social and environmental performance along with the economic parameters.
They go through a vigorous certification process and complete a comprehensive assessment of their company’s impacts on all stakeholders. The assessment is verified by none other than B-Lab which is the nonprofit behind the B-Corp certification.
And that’s what makes B-Corp certification unique. It not just looks at the financial profitability unlike many other traditional corporations but it goes deep to the triple bottom line – the three roots or the three pillars of sustainability – environmental, social and economic factors.
Now let’s see what goes in the process of getting B-corp certified for a corporation.
In order to achieve the respectable B-Corp status, your company has to go through the rigorous assessment process where it has to get a verified score of 80 out of 200 on the B Impact Assessment. Plus, your firm must be in operation for at least one year if you’re a new firm.
So YES, you can pass the B-Corporation certification by earning less than 50% of the total points on the assessment. This essentially means that getting B-Corp certification is not a rocket science and any organization can get that without much difficulty.
This doesn’t mean that becoming a B-Corp is a slice of cake. The fact is, the Impact Assessment is challenging and is designed to be challenging so that companies don’t get away with just doing some nitty gritty things around sustainability.
The B-Corp certification program looks at how you treat your staff and community and your customers and environment.
A few parameters it considers is:
And the list of criteria goes on. So, here’s a conclusion on the B Impact Assessment – the comprehensive and aspirational nature of the B Impact Assessment is what makes it a quick robust and effective sustainability framework.
Apart from scoring 80 points to get B-Corp certified, you also need to verify your assessment results, comply with the rules and regulations regarding changes in the legal status, and pay licensing fees for all sorts of official purposes.
Once you are done with the official documentation and other formalities, your assessment score will be made public and will be published on the B-Corporations website itself. And too, can proudly display your B-Corporation with the B-Corp logo on your website to showcase your achievement to your customers and community.
But take note of an interesting thing here – being B-Corp isn’t just about making profits with environmental, sustainability and social justice in mind. In fact, it’s because of B-Corp that companies can make money while doing nice things to the planet. How? Well. As companies minimise their environmental impact, this results in cost saving through improved efficiencies, and as they maximize their social impact, they build better human resources that ultimately help them to achieve the triple bottom line or the essence of sustainable development.
Also, the B Corp assessment and thereby its certification creates a trust not only between its consumers and its workers, but it attracts investors and shareholders. This is because people are now more conscious than ever. We have studies that suggest consumers prefer companies that prioritise sustainability over monetary profitability. Likewise, investors too want to bring a positive impact and not just earn a few bucks when they are about to invest.
Finally, let us introduce ourselves on how we are committed to the principle of purpose alongside that of profitability.
As you can guess, we at One Tribe are a B-Corp certified firm.
There are over 3000 B Corps around the world who are sustainable and profitable and we feel proud to present ourselves as one among them. One Tribe wants to bring a change to this world. We have an ambition to make this world a better place to live in. That’s why we always had aspirations to become a B Corp.
Our mission is to tackle the climate crisis using technology that makes it possible for our e-commerce and other business partners to fund global conservation programmes through miro-donations. So, from the beginning itself, our founders wanted to ensure transparency and accountability to our customers. Because we do recognize that consumers are concerned about their support and donations that are made through One Tribe platform.
As we help many of our partners to be accountable and responsible for their environmental impact, we were keen enough to ensure that everyone is one the same page, meaning, including ourselves. So, as soon as the climate action platform was in development and our first tribe members on-boarded, we quickly got to work with the B Lab to start our certification and to join the bandwagon of companies that are here for a change.
Since it’s March – the B Corp Month, it’s time to be more responsible towards the protection of our planet, both as a consumer and business, and to create awareness among the masses for the same.
Lastly, a special thing about the B Corp is they don’t just showcase their status and achievements to grab attention and eye balls, but they also work with their customers and community members to find ways to improve their sustainable performance. B Corp firms are those who are responsible and who set the bar high when it comes to business portability, environment sustainability and social well being.
That’s why we at Tribe are always open to talk about our B-Corp journey, and help brands to improve their sustainability score!
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One Tribe is a Climate Action Platform enabling businesses and their customers to make a positive environmental impact.
