B Corp an a-grade ambition
This newspaper is part of the Stuff media group, which is the first media business in New Zealand to become a certified B Corporation.
B Corps are businesses verified to achieve high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. The B Corp movement was founded in 2006 in the United States by three friends who shared a vision to make business a force for good.
The ‘‘B’’ stands for beneficial. The aim is to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet by helping companies to balance purpose and profit, while also serving stakeholders.
Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher says being a B Corp fits with Stuff’s wider strategy.
‘‘Being a B Corp aligns with Stuff’s strategy of making Aotearoa a better place,’’ Boucher says. ‘‘We want all that we do, all that we think about and all we produce to be having a tangible, positive impact on Aotearoa and the lives of everyone who lives here.
‘‘We see the certification as a crucial tool to help guide us on this journey, to help us hold ourselves accountable for our actions, and to continue building trust with consumers, communities and suppliers, and . . . retaining employees.’’
A company applies to a group called B Lab to become B Corp certified. Performance is assessed across five impact areas:
■ governance,
■ workers,
■ community,
■ customers,
■ environment.
Stuff’s B Impact score is 83.4 and a report of the company’s breakdown of points is available on the B Corp website. ‘‘Becoming certified is just the start. We must continue living up to the high standards we have already met, and follow the roadmap we have in place for continuous improvement, to help us have an even bigger impact in the future,’’ Boucher says.
Qiulae Wong, Aotearoa New Zealand manager for B Lab, which certifies B Corps, says the impact of Covid has seen a surge in businesses wanting to look at the way they do business.
‘‘Covid gave pause for people to think a little bit about what it is to be a good business in this society and the fact that we are all globally interconnected,’’ Wong says.
‘‘There’s been a real shift in businesses taking this seriously.’’
To achieve certification, a company must demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving an assessment score of 80 or above across the five impact areas. The certification is reassessed every three years.