Governments unable to act. Companies so greedy for profits that they destroy the social climate and the environment. Tired of hearing these refrains, entrepreneurs have created the B Corp certification to nothing more or less than reconcile capitalism and sustainability. Is it realistic?
Great outdoor and travel enthusiasts, Anthony Boronowski and Ingrid Sirois created the technical clothing brand Foehn in Quebec City in 2018. The foehn (pronounced “fire”) is a hot, dry gust that sometimes hurtles down the mountains, especially the Alps. Foehn clothing is intended to be warm and light, in the mountains or elsewhere. It fits.
Anxious to adopt the highest degree of social and environmental respectability, the two entrepreneurs do business with handpicked suppliers. The price of their products suffers. It’s normal. In the lucrative high-end outdoor clothing market, it is also normal — it has become a necessity — to display one’s affiliation with various social and environmental causes.
Call it the Patagonia effect. The Californian clothing manufacturer announced last month that its founder, Yvon Chouinard, and his family were selling their majority stake to a collective that will have the mandate to reinvest all of the profits – around US$100 million a year – in the fight against climate changes.
Patagonia has been associated since its foundation in 1974 with the protection of nature. It is also one of the most prominent companies in the B Corp movement, a private certification popular with entrepreneurs keen to display their environmental or social values. After Patagonia’s announcement last month, B Corp executives saw a 21% spike in inquiries.
Foehn, which donates 1% of its turnover to environmental causes each year, had already decided to add B Corp certification to the other environmental programs to which it adheres, ideally before the end of 2022. just doesn’t have the resources of the Californian multinational and has put it off until next year, explains to the To have to Ingrid Sirois. “It would take us at least 250 hours which we just don’t have right now. »
The registration process is tedious. Basically, 200 questions examine as many characteristics of the company wishing to register, which must obtain at least 80 correct answers. “It’s heavy, but it’s the thing to do if you want to show yourself as a sustainable business,” says Ingrid Sirois. It has become the recognized symbol that says your company has adopted the best social or environmental practices. »
The B Corp symbol actually goes far beyond the outdoors, clothing, or even the consumer market.
B(DC)Corp
The non-profit organization called B Lab was founded in Pennsylvania in 2006. It is the one that subjects interested companies to this famous questionnaire which helps them to establish their “social and environmental performance”, then to set targets for achieve to improve this performance.
Every three years, companies that meet their targets maintain their B Corp certification. As of last month, nearly 6,000 companies, spread over 85 countries, but mainly present in North America, were certified. About 400 of them are Canadian.
In Canada, the most prominent B Corp company is undoubtedly the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). His main objective in this movement? “Growing awareness of the B Lab certification in Canada,” sums up its ESG (environment, society and governance) and sustainability director, Craig Ryan. The BDC is the official partner with us of the B Lab, at the initiative of the B Corporation certification in 2006. The Canadian institution has employees whose only role is to help other companies to join the B Corp movement. , as it is commonly called.
“It was created by entrepreneurs. Not by investors or governments. The objective is to indicate that one wishes to have a lasting positive effect beyond the creation of value, adds Craig Ryan. The responsibility is great, the evaluation process is rigorous. You have to constantly improve, but because the impact of a company depends on its context, the objectives vary. »
The most common targets are not the ones you think of. For example, the reduction of waste comes before that of greenhouse gas emissions, notes the BDC. Improving the quality of life of employees beyond just wages is also in vogue.
These “flexible” targets are, however, the main criticism leveled at this certification by those who see it primarily as a branding companies. Each sets its own objectives and the means to evaluate them. This is something that B Lab, the organization that manages the B Corp seal, promises to fix. “We have published a draft certification that would move away from the flexible standards currently being considered in favor of at least ten fixed criteria to which all B Corp companies must subscribe,” said a spokeswoman. To have to. The B Lab is giving itself until 2024 to get there.
Clearer targets
In the meantime, given the absence of a more binding legal or legal framework, any ESG target is better than no target at all, argues the specialist in the social impact of organizations and professor at the school. management of HEC Montreal Luciano Barin Cruz. “B Corp certification is about the free market filling a void left by the government,” he says. I think there is the desire to improve things, to prove that certain companies are making an effort. »
If the social impact specialist would prefer to see governments imposing universal targets, Craig Ryan offers the opposite formula: what if governments were inspired by B Corp? The federal government recently reviewed the Canada Business Corporations Act to make more room for issues of inclusion and social impact in the governance of companies incorporated in the country.
The government of Justin Trudeau consulted the people of the B Lab to formulate this amendment. “Just like that, shareholder value is no longer the sole driver” in defining good business performance, says Craig Ryan.
Letting the private sector create its own ESG certifications obviously has its limits, says Luciano Barin Cruz. “Just because it comes from the private sector doesn’t mean it’s bad. But is it enough? Each new standard created by a business combination opens the door a little more social-washing or greenwashing. Nothing says that B Corp conducts these practices, but it remains a limited certification. »
Limited firstly by the fact that only interested companies adhere to it, and even then, only those who have the means. For lack of a more framing governmental intervention. This is the free market.