B Corp Month: This Way Forward

It’s B Corp Month – the first one since we became a Certified B Corp (hooray!) We couldn’t be prouder to have joined this worldwide cohort of companies finding pioneering ways to make business a force for good. For 50 years, we’ve worked hard to do just that, so achieving certification was a wonderful stamp of approval from B Lab (they’re the amazing global charity who developed the B Corp framework). The theme of this year’s B Corp Month is ‘This Way Forward’. In the spirit of that, our Sustainability Director, Laura Ford, is sharing some of the things we’ve learnt about reducing the social and environmental impact of business – now, and in the future.

Nature on the Board

In August 2022, we became the first company in the world to give Nature a voice and a vote in all its decision-making processes — reimagining how the world might do business — and in so doing, enshrining the Rights of Nature into UK corporate governance. We appointed Nature to our board of directors, meaning it is represented by an independent representative in all our board meetings.

Although we were the first company in the world to do this, we didn't want to be the last. That's why we open-sourced the entire legal process for other companies to do the same. And we’re delighted that, over the last 18 months, Nature on the Board has really gathered momentum. Today there are (at least!) five other organisations with Nature on their boards – and that number is only set to grow. If you’d like to learn more about how to make Nature a director of your business, read our Open Source Guide.

Partnering with Charities

To make a difference where it matters most, consider partnering with charities and NGOs. We’re leading the way by partnering with a range of charities carefully selected for their ability to restore and regenerate Nature.

In 2022 we joined World Land Trust’s (WLT) Carbon Balanced programme, which balances our unavoidable carbon emissions. Having reduced our carbon footprint as much as possible, we balance the remainder with WLT, which ensures that the equivalent carbon remains stored in precious ancient woodland carbon sinks. The project we fund, delivered by WLT’s local partner FUNDAECO, protects critically threatened tropical forest in Guatemala. WLT works with local partners and communities to conserve and protect local forest and ensure that local wisdom is shared and passed on.

A key part of our Sustainability Strategy is to run on 100% renewable energy, and we do this with Energy Garden, a Community Benefit Society which produces community-owned solar power. Energy Garden has 500 members, who have between them raised more than £1 million for solar development so far. Revenues from the sale of energy fund great projects that help urban dwellers get closer to Nature every day: things like gardens, education programmes and youth training in food growing, healthy living and energy.

Driving Change Through Supply Chains

Great change can happen not just in your business, but in the businesses you work with. In 2023 we launched our Supplier Toolkit – it’s not very exciting but it’s extremely important! We’re aiming to work with ten of our suppliers per year to help them reduce their scope 1 and 2 footprint, water footprint, waste and biodiversity impact, as well as working with their own supply chains. We’re providing an initial assessment, toolkit and action plan template for their route to understanding and reducing their environmental impact. If you’d like a copy, just email us at support@faithinnature.co.uk and we’ll happily share it with you. By sharing our knowledge, we hope to help and encourage more businesses to move forward and do better – for people and for the planet.

Want to find out more about B Corps and the process of becoming certified? Read our interview with Laura: What is a B Corp?