B-Corp, Football, Eco-mobility, Systems & Vogue
Giles Gibbons
Good Business - Sustainability | Strategy | Impact
May 19, 2023
1. Be (Corp) more
If you’re a purpose-led company, that’s enough right? Wrong. Relying solely on your purpose to show how you’re doing good doesn’t cut it anymore.
This is demonstrated by B Corp’s change in approach to introduce a minimum standard across 10 criteria, which include fair wages, diversity and inclusion, human rights, and climate action. B Corp is a global certification scheme for companies that use business as a force for good. The new approach would replace the current standards, which allow companies to choose the categories that they excel in to collect enough points to certify. The new standards are on track to begin in early 2024, pending a public comment period.
So why does this matter? If you’re looking to achieve or keep B Corp status, you will need take action to show how you are making progress across the full spectrum of areas that are essential for a positive impact on planet and people, as well as profit. Using only recycled materials but not paying minimum wage will no longer be enough. Being a genuinely progressive business is not just about what you do and why, but how you do it as well.
It also reflects a wider societal shift in expectations for purpose-led brands. Shareholders and investors are increasingly demanding brands to go further in their responsibilities to society, recognising the potential for their bottom line. This is demonstrated by the latest impact report from the Craftory, the first UK-based investment company investing exclusively in purpose-led consumer goods. The Craftory (a B Corp itself), is shifting the majority of its portfolio to B Corp certified brands, thereby 'helping [those companies] create a competitive advantage and attract customers, employees, and investors who share their values.’
As a purpose-led brand, you’re already doing good. But over time you will be held to a higher set of expectations by consumers compared to other companies. B Corp is a practical tool that will soon show how you’re making a difference to society as a whole. The culmination of being purpose-led and B Corp certified is a powerful position to be in.
2. Spurs top of the League?
While we must still wait ten days (at the time of writing) to see how this season’s Premier League pans out, which club(s) tops the 2022 sustainability rankings has already been decided. And for once, it’s not Man City (although the club is only one point off the top spot in this case)!
For the fourth season, the United Nations-backed Sport Positive has ranked all 20 Premier League clubs based on their environmental efforts across 12 categories, including sustainable transport, single use plastic, and biodiversity. Clubs that are working strategically across all sites and operations and are engaging fans, employees and players are awarded more points.
For the second year running, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and Liverpool Football Club have topped the ranking, with Manchester City Football Club a close third. But encouragingly this year has seen “one of the biggest leaps in progress from clubs across the board” – seven clubs now have net zero targets and four are publicly reporting all emissions. Spurs has even delivered educational sessions on environmental sustainability to its first team squads.
However, every club had points docked this year for taking domestic flights, and while there are good pockets of activity from individual clubs, there is still no overarching strategy from the Premier League, despite setting its net zero target 18 months ago. Compared to other sectors, football is still behind the curve when it comes to sustainability. But the unique position football clubs hold in people’s minds make them such a powerful tool for change. After all, the relationship they have with their fans is one that other brands can only dream of.
It's time for football clubs to recognise the power they hold and to showcase to other businesses what’s possible, on the environment and beyond. This is not totally new ground: through its No Room For Racism campaign the Premier League and its clubs have been promoting equality, diversity and inclusion across all areas of football since 2019. But it’s time to broaden the scope and hold football clubs to account on progress in all areas, from carbon to DE&I to supplier management. Football is a beautiful game but it’s also big business, so it must be held to the same standards.
3. Paradise regained?
Quaint, remote, and until now mostly renowned for its butterfly population and a Venetian castle, the island of Astypalea might not be your first guess for the location of a collaborative eco-mobility project between the Greek government and Volkswagen Group. But the Smart Sustainable project is transforming the island into an emission-free traffic, carbon neutral haven.
With just 1300 residents, and a seasonal influx of tourists, Astypalea’s small and contained population makes it an ideal location for the project. A few years ago, there was no such thing as an e-vehicle on the island, but after the introduction of Volkswagen’s electric cars and buses, their mobility system is changing. An e-fleet management system to enable vehicle and ride sharing will reduce and optimise traffic, and an all-year round shuttle-on-demand system is set to improve public transport availability for permanent residents.
The other element of the project is the plan to wean the islanders off their diesel generators, through the introduction of a renewable energy system, primarily dependent on solar power. Currently, Astypalean residents source their diesel, petrol and natural gas from the mainland, and pay 25% more than the average Greek citizen to do so. Switching over to green energy will therefore lead to significant savings for residents. The project also places great emphasis on local involvement; scientists from the University of the Aegean and University of Strathclyde are closely evaluating resident responses to ensure their experiences remain at the forefront.
Astypalea is an example of the Greek government’s investment in the GR-eco island national initiative, a vision to convert the Greek islands into models of sustainable development. The idea is that it will set a blueprint for other islands and regions to follow suit. It’s also a big leap in Volkswagen’s sustainability strategy to be climate neutral by 2050.
The visionary transformation of Astypalea reflects the good that can come from effective collaborations between business and government. Pilot projects, on islands or elsewhere, are key in driving forward innovation. In this case, Volkswagen’s quest to put their innovation and insight to good use shows that the results can be electrifying.
4. Step change, systems change
“The time for incrementality is long gone. The problems we are facing are far too big for an incremental approach”.
This from Alan Jope, soon to step down as CEO of Unilever, speaking at a Forum for the Future event to mark the retirement of its influential director and sustainability guru Jonathon Porritt. Forum for the Future has long championed the need for systems change, and for businesses to work – in Jope’s words – “on the system, not within the system”, so it was a suitable setting to throw down this challenge to business leaders everywhere. And it raises an interesting question about where the focus of sustainability over the years ahead should be – change yourself, or change the system? The answer, as always, is not straightforward.
At Good Business we talk about the need for transformational change. Most transformational change requires systems change, even though not all systems change is necessarily transformational. For that reason, systems thinking needs to become a part of the ongoing approach to sustainability. The changes we need to see – on climate, waste, water, inequality, diversity – all require businesses to change, and change at scale, but to do so in the full understanding of the ways in which all the different parts of the process interact with each other and cause change to happen. Some of these components are within the control of an individual business, others require collaboration and partnership with governments, civil society, suppliers, customers and – in some cases - competitors.
For those businesses, like Unilever, that are on the front foot when it comes to sustainability, a focus on systems change is an obvious next step. When you’ve changed your own business significantly, it makes sense to look outside the organisation and call for sectoral level change. That in turn creates space in which you can change more as a business, because the external factors that were holding you back are no longer a barrier. Navigating that in a way that remains commercially viable and still recognises sustainability as a source of competitive advantage is essential – easier said than done no doubt, but a challenge that has to be taken on.
The Goods: Inclusion is in Vogue
Fashion is all about trends, but sometimes those trends become the norm. The fashion industry has the power to make things desirable not just in its own world, but also in society more broadly. This month, British Vogue is taking it one step further by making inclusivity a fashionable must-have.
The iconic fashion magazine has recently revealed five portraits featuring disabled activists, models and creatives for a series of May 2023 covers. Edward Enninful, editor-in-chief of British Vogue, explained this decision as an “overdue education for all”. The question of inclusion is on the agenda in many parts of the media, but fashion can often still seem highly standardised. “We all engage with fashion, but does fashion engage with all of us?”, says Enninful.
This really resonates with us. Progress is in the hands of people who are proactively seeking impact. Inclusivity is not just about trying to be welcoming and appealing to everyone but must include participating actively in the move to get closer to them. For example, it is less impactful to simply state on your job descriptions that you’re assessing candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age or sexual orientation, than to run outreach efforts and use platforms and technology which can make recruitment less biased.
“Nothing is more fashionable than inclusivity”, Sinéad Burke said, starring on the first cover of the series. Let’s hope this trend becomes the norm.
