In order to formalize our business commitment to the highest environmental and social standards, we have partnered with B Lab to become a Certified B Corporation. We became a B Corporation to join with a larger community of businesses aligned to demonstrate that you can be successful while taking the well-being of workers and the environment into account.
What are Certified B Corporations?
Certified B Corporations are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Corporations are unlike traditional businesses because they:
- Meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards
- Meet higher legal accountability standards
- Build business constituency for good business
Why B Corporations Matter
The vision is simple yet ambitious: to create a new sector of the economy which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. This sector will be comprised of a new type of corporation - the B Corporation - that meets rigorous and independent standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
As a result, individuals will have greater economic opportunity, society will move closer to achieving a positive environmental footprint, more people will be employed in great places to work, and we will have built stronger communities at home and across the world. Why are B Corps needed in order to achieve these goals? B Corporations address two critical problems:
- Current corporate law makes it difficult for businesses to take employee, community, and environmental interests into consideration when making decisions.
- The lack of transparent standards makes it difficult for all of us to tell the difference between a 'good company' and just good marketing. B Corporations' legal structure expands corporate accountability so they are required to make decisions that are good for society, not just their shareholders.
B Corporations' performance standards enable consumers to support businesses that align with their values, investors to drive capital to higher impact investments, and governments and multinational corporations to implement sustainable procurement policies. To become Certified B Corporation, you have to do three things:
- Take and pass the intensive B Impact Ratings System. This sets a benchmark for social and environmental impact for good companies.
- Adopt the B Corporation Legal Framework to bake the mission of the company into its legal DNA.
- Sign a Term Sheet that makes the certification official.
