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
The Czech government presented five key priorities it wants to focus on during the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, beginning on 1 July. The priorities include post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, energy security, strengthening European defence and cybersecurity, as well as the resilience of the European economy and of democratic institutions. However, according to Frank Bold experts, there is a lack of emphasis on the green transition - which is crucial for both energy security and economic resilience.
European companies can now take a look at the draft sustainability reporting standards they will report against in the coming years. The drafts were developed by the EFRAG Project Task Force on EU Sustainability Reporting Standards, with the participation of two Frank Bold representatives - Head of the Responsible Companies Section Filip Gregor, and Joanne Houston, from Frank Bold's Brussels office. Both experts will continue contributing to the development of the EU standards as members of the newly established EFRAG Sustainability Pillar.
As part of its strategy to implement the European Green Deal and the Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, the European Commission presented its proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
