Our thinking

Raising the game

7 October, 2022

B Lab Global is asking for contributions to a consultation around new  draft standards, which looks to move away from the current approach which allows businesses to excel in some areas and not in others as long as they achieve a minimum score, towards a new approach where all B Corps must meet minimum requirements across 10 specific areas of social, governance and environmental impact.

But what caught our eye this week was something closer to home. B Lab UK has published “The power of business”, which offers practical advice on the different ways businesses can be a positive force during the cost-of-living crisis. The guide was released as a result of growing calls for business leaders to ease the financial pressure on their employees and focus on environmental innovation in response to the cost-of-living crisis.

Some companies may not consider helping employees, customers or communities to deal with the cost-of-living crisis to be a sustainability issue. But it is. Making sure the people you work with and for are able to get through the months ahead, healthy and well, is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do from a business perspective. The brochure provides case studies and prompts to help low-income workers, protect households from poverty, support small businesses, accelerate climate action and influence collective action.

There is something there for everyone, from financial coaching and services that allow employees to draw upon earned wages before payday to providing financial and in-kind support to SME suppliers and opening up spaces to people who may need help staying warm.

From short term, tactical responses to the current crisis, to its calls for holistic structural and systemic changes and meaningful action, B Corp could just be the light at the end of the tunnel we all need to see right now.

By Bertie Bateman