Our understanding of sustainability evolves constantly. Initially seen as a business risk, actions to improve sustainability performance have more recently been used as a way to drive competitive advantage. Now, a new wave of businesses and entrepreneurs are taking a holistic approach to sustainability, seeing business as needing to contribute positively to society. Being a force for good is the aim of B-Corporations (B-Corps for short). B-Corp is a private certification scheme that measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. But this goes beyond minimising any negative impacts. MULTIPLE BENEFITS Celia’s company, TheWellbeing Farm, became B-Corp certified in March 2022. Since then, it has increased its sales, engagement, customer support and experienced no problems with recruitment – all these factors are rare for a hospitality business at the moment. Customers travel to them due to their sustainability credentials; employees mention it as a reason they want to work there. For Celia, it is one of the best things she has done for her business. Victor came across B-Corps from a company in Italy a few years ago. After investigating the movement in more detail, he began to realise the true potential, and started talking to Celia about it as a way to introduce a fresh unique selling proposition (USP) to The Wellbeing Farm. Small and medium-sized companies are looking for different USPs than very large companies. They need to stand out. Consumer recognition is now growing, and three large supermarkets in London have dedicated aisles to B-Corp products. B-Corp status will move faster and wider now that we have a newlyinstalled King Charles as a champion of sustainability and the environment. Two questions to ask ourselves are: has capitalism disconnected us from each other?; and, could business help us to reconnect? The Wellbeing Farm project has sought to do just that. In addition to setting a high bar for companies, B-Corps is a movement to demonstrate that a different kind of economy is possible. It now includes more than 1,000 companies in the UK, covering in excess of 50,000 employees in 58 industries. Globally, there are BCorp accredited businesses in more than 70 countries. 70%of these employ fewer than 50 people. It is also clear that B-Corp accredited companies are proud to be B-Corps, proud to meet higher standards of social, environmental performances, accountability and transparency. Being a part of this movement is one of the motivations for The Wellbeing Farm. They are part of an amazing collection of businesses who care about more than just profit. As a collective, B-Corps do business in the right way for the planet, their teams, and their local community: they are a true force for good. THE GROWING DEGROWTH CONCEPT A different kind of movement is underway in parallel. Degrowth also sets out to demonstrate that a different kind of economy is not only possible, but necessary. A popular definition of Degrowth is “a planned, democratic reduction of less necessary forms of production in rich countries to bring economies back into balance with the living world in a safe, just and equitable way”. 44 |
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