Look For The Certification.
Photo by BioPak
With the uprise of ‘Greenwashing’ and looking to find a straight answer as to what exactly it is you’re buying, it can often be difficult to find the truth amidst the marketing. However, a third party certification that paved the way to verify a company’s intentions is none other than the B Corporation Certification; but is their own standard being held across all companies who hold the certification?
For those unaware, B Corporation Certification has been an increasingly recognized and trusted label globally. Insuring that your purchase is supporting a company that meets certain ethical & sustainable benchmarks. The goal for this was to reimagine the business model with the foundation of 3 items: People, Planet, and Profits. With this new criteria of the B Corp model (B for Benefit) it would turn the matter of business from profits and growth to working with a company through self evaluation, providing ideas to improve, and in terms of the customer – clear the cluttered path of other businesses who greenwash their products with nothing to back their claims up. In short, any company who was looking to become B Corp Certified would need to go through a thorough process of intense certification to insure the customer is buying what is promised and creating a trusting foundation from business to consumer. To view their certification process, view this link: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification
As this certification becomes more well known and supported it’s easy for bigger corporations to follow where the money is. Today big companies such as Nespresso, Unilever, P&G, and even Coca-Cola are now under certification of B Corp which on it’s own drives much questioning as to how. Even through a thorough certification it’s now questionable as to why these companies would be able to wear the same label as many smaller companies striving to make a better impact under the B Corp label. While the plus side is that these companies will be held to a higher standard, or we so hope, the nature of these companies alone leaves the consumers who look for the B Corp label a bit uneasy on the ease of access to this certification. Not to say that no company under the B Corp certification is to be questioned but the now ease of trust and transparency has been mudded. Today B Corp is reevaluating there certification process because of topics like this, what was started with the intentions of benefiting the people, planet, and profits we can only hope that it returns to these 3 foundations.
