Next month Toronto is hosting the annual B Corporation Champions Retreat event, October 3-5, 2017. The gathering is a great opportunity for people committed to using business as a force for good to come together, exchange ideas and learn from one another.
B Corps Are A Force for Good
By way of background, a B Corporation is a business entity built to serve stakeholders, not just shareholder considerations. Well-known consumer brands like Patagonia, Dansko and Ben & Jerry’s are B Corps.
These companies, and others like them big and small, see value in aligning their organization with client, community, employee and environmental interests. Currently, there are 2,251 companies in more than 50 countries.
Rigorous Standards
Becoming a B Corp means holding oneself accountable to rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Beyond Certification
Certified B Corps are committed to making a difference, but knowing where to spend time for greatest impact can be challenging. The task of determining which sustainability metrics you should track is one of the most important issues.
Basic activities that generate emissions are obvious places to start.
But the real question is which one of these metrics, or perhaps others, are “right” for your organization? For example, does a metric represent a significant portion of environmental impact, and, if so, is there anything you can do to reduce usage or change activity?
Sustainability Software Can Help
The right kind of cloud-based application can greatly simplify sustainability reporting for B Corps. Often the solution starts by solving problems with data. For example, the right sustainability software enables multiple users to work on a coherent data set, provides automatic unit conversion, warns of outliers and missing or duplicate data, and provides an audit trail.
More advanced cloud-based software like Scope 5 and others support dynamic and unanticipated data relationships, facilitates in-depth and flexible analysis of the data, makes it easy to generate many different charts and reports, and automates data collection.
Traditional approaches rely on piles of spreadsheets that require hundreds, if not thousands of hours to compile and organize – time better spent elsewhere. Learn more by reading my article, 5 Myths About Sustainability Software Every CSO Should Know.
When ROI Takes-off
Sustainability reporting is here to stay, but knowing how it impacts your bottom-line is a critical data point. Intangible value gets created by enhancing innovation leadership and brand reputation, but ROI skyrockets when sustainability reporting software informs business decisions.
For example, Scope 5 helped a client streamline data collection, and inventory and track improvement. After reducing electricity costs at one site, the company embarked on an initiative to systematically reduce costs across all manufacturing sites. This grew into a broader strategy for improving resource energy management that included water and waste.
The company has saved over $10 million in operating expenses and is poised to save even more while making its business less susceptible to risk. Accrued savings are improving net margins and net revenue by eliminating wasted resource cost. Local employees are proud of providing environmental and social benefits to their communities.
Ready to Do Our Part
Becoming a B Corp shows a commitment to customers, workers, and surrounding community. Leaders like Patagonia, Dansko and Ben & Jerry’s focus on long-term value creation and sustainability in economic and social practice. Sustainability reporting software plays a vital role supporting this mission.
As an expert in turning sustainability data into outcomes that matter, Scope 5 is committed to helping B Corps by sharing best practices learned from working with leading companies and organizations. Whether you are looking to get started or advance to the next level, Scope 5 can help.
This is our way of investing in you so that together we can ensure a sustainable future. Let’s start a conversation. Email us at info@scope5.com.