B Corps: How to put sustainability at the heart of a business

Over the past few years, we have seen an increasing number of companies take it upon themselves to engage with the issues climate change and sustainability on a voluntary basis - with firms’ motivations ranging from an interest in the long-term sustainability of their company’s activities, to a sense a moral duty to people and planet.

There is a lot to be learnt from the organisations taking proactive steps to embed issues of sustainability at the heart of what they do. That’s why in today’s episode, we will be looking at this type of voluntary action, with a specific focus on the B Corp movement and their efforts to certify companies taking steps to think long term across all stakeholders.

Hearing about firms that have made the transition to becoming a certified B Corp gives us a great insight into what it means for an organisation to truly walk the talk when it comes to something like climate change.

 

Links from today’s discussion:

B Corporation website: www.bcorporation.uk 

Better Business Act: www.betterbusinssact.org 

Boardroom 2030: www.boardroom2030.org 

 

For \more information on climate risk, visit GARP’s Climate Resources Hub: https://climate.garp.org/

If you have any questions, thoughts or feedback regarding this podcast series, we would love to hear from you at: climateriskpodcast@garp.com

 

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Charmian Love - Co-Founder at B Lab UK and Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Said Business School, Oxford

 

Charmian is Co-Founder and Activist in Residence at B Lab UK, where she supports the growth of B Corps across the UK (and beyond) and is Co-Chair of B Lab’s Global Climate Taskforce.

Charmian is committed to helping accelerate the transition to a more regenerative, circular and inclusive economy. In her role as Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, Charmian is guiding the development of the Regenerative and Circular Economy Lab and designed and teaches a popular MBA course on this subject.

Charmian also holds the role of Co-Director for the newly launched Oxford Climate Emergency Programme, has co-taught an Executive MBA course on Systempreneurship: Innovating for Impact, contributed to the core MBA class ‘Capitalism in Debate’ and is a regular tutor in the GOTO programme focused on equipping students with skills and tools to engage in system change.

She is a member of the Sustainability Advisory Council at the ICAEW (because she truly believes that accountants will save the world), a member of the ‘Regenerative Business’ working group at the Institute of Directors (IoD), Co-Chair of the BAC’s NetZero Working Group and an Advisory Committee member for GARP’s (Global Association of Risk Professionals) Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate. She held the role of chair of B Lab UK for 5 years, was a founding trustee to the Future Fit Foundation and was on the UK board of the B Team until 2019.