Frank Bold has recently become a certified B Corporation for its activities as a law firm. This new status reflects the firm’s general policy of combining its business activities with socially valuable objectives.
The B Corporation label is a certification process demonstrating that a company adheres to the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. It also shows that a company is dedicated to using the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems.
B Corps are part of a growing movement that aims at redefining success in business, so that it is not limited to making profit but extends to creating benefit for the society and the planet. It thus goes a step further than the numerous initiatives targetting the avoidance or limitation of social and environmental adverse impacts.
B Corporation certification is supervised by B Lab, a non-profit organisation that serves the expanding global movement of people ‘using business as a force of good’. Certification is granted to companies that pass B Lab’s Impact Assessment, which includes detailed and standardised impact assessment indicators, as well as a customised platform for measuring those impacts. Companies must also meet the legal requirements for accountability set by B Lab. These requirements depend on the company’s state of incorporation and corporate structure.
The median score for businesses completing the B Impact Assessment is 55 points. To be certified, businesses must earn a verified score of 80 points. For the year 2016, Frank Bold earned 96 points for its commercial activities. Frank Bold has a unique hybrid structure that brings together (1) a Certified B Corp law firm that services primarily commercial clients that meet ethical guidelines set by the organisation, and (2) a non-profit section that benefits from funding from Frank Bold’s business activities, charitable foundations and other entities in order to fulfill its mission. Frank Bold as a whole shares the purpose of creating public benefit by solving social and environmental problems.
Today, more than 1,700 corporations are Certified B Corps, coming from 42 countries and covering over 120 industries. This includes several world-wide known brands such as Ben & Jerry’s (a subsidiary of global consumer product giant Unilever), and Patagonia, as well as publicly traded companies, such as the e-commerce site Etsy, cosmetics maker Natura, and Triodos bank.
By becoming a B Corp, Frank Bold has entered a leading business community, which proves its ability to do business by directly serving social and environmental interests.
Further information is avaialble on the official B-Corporation website: http://www.bcorporation.net.
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Text edited by Sandrine Brachotte
After several months of delay, today, the European Commission presented its proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in Brussels. The main objective of this new legislation is to integrate into European law international standards such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights - adopted globally over a decade ago - and standards developed and approved by the OECD.
What is the content of sustainability due diligence standards, how can companies effectively implement due diligence, and what challenges and benefits does it bring to businesses? These and other questions were answered by speakers at the webinar organised by Frank Bold.
On 23 February 2022, the European Commission released its proposal for a directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. This directive could represent a landmark step forward in minimising the negative impacts of businesses on workers, communities and the environment worldwide. In response, over 220 NGOs and trade unions from around the world welcome the proposal as an essential and long-awaited step toward corporate accountability, responsible business conduct and access to justice.
