58 According to B Corporation: “Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.” The organisation goes on to explain that, to become a B Corp, a company must go through the B Corp Certification process – a rigorous assessment of business impact relating to B Lab’s standards. “If the company is considered to meet these higher standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, they can start their journey as a Certified B Corporation, recertifying every three years to demonstrate a continuous improvement mindset,” it says. Source Home & Gift and Insider Trends has recently released a report titled, Good or Good Enough: Why Transparency and Accountability are replacing Sustainability in Sourcing. The report, which is free to download, is authored by Suzanne Ellingham, Sourcing Director at Hyve Group, highlights ‘Greenwashing’ has become rife in a world where businesses know they need to be publicly seen to be trying to be more sustainable but can avoid having to prove specific results because consumers don’t know what to look for. The report reads: “It is not enough to claim that your business is sustainable or that you only work with sustainable partners because most of the time these claims fall short on closer inspection. Sustainability becomes a sales tool rather than meaningful action because companies know the goal is unachievable. “But if you accept that there is no way to make your business 100 percent sustainable without not being in business, then there is nowhere to hide. Your only option is to adopt a policy of transparency and accountability, which is much more powerful. “By being open and honest about what you are doing, how your business operates, who you work with, and the environmental and social impact, you can make meaningful change – even if you aren’t getting everything right.” This is where B Corp comes in. According to B Corp, “We’re building the B Corp movement to change our economic system — and to do so, we must change the rules of the game. B Lab creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift the behaviour, culture, and structural underpinnings of capitalism. We mobilise the B Corp community towards collective action to address society’s most critical challenges.” On the next page we speak to Suzanne Ellingham to get her expert insight on the certification, as well as finding out from Founder of Y.O.U. Underwear, Sarah Jordan, about the benefits for a company of gaining B Corp certification. Better B Corp business March plays host to B Corp month, which aims to build awareness of the sustainability certification. Here, B Corp experts highlight the benefits of transforming business for better
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