Treepoints is B Corp Pending 🎉 And here’s why you should care…

We’re soon approaching our one year anniversary at Treepoints.

When we launched last year, it was important for us that from the very beginning we would be transparent about our practices and the way we operate, so we pledged to be a B Corp and are now officially B Corp Pending. But what does B Corp mean? And what even is a B Corp? We see the logos strewn across some of our favourite brands’ and partners websites, but knowing exactly what it means for them (and for us) can help you make a decision on who to buy from.

What is a B Corp?

B Corp sets the gold bar of which companies really are not only talking the talk, but walking to walk. All you have to do is open the fridge and you’ll see the logo on the back of your Ben & Jerrys. There are lots of service businesses too that have become B Corp certified.

The B in B corp is definitely up for interpretation. It was originally derived from “benefit corporation”, a type of US corporate structure, but B Corp means many things to many people. The Community Manager for B Corp UK said her favourite interpretation came from Ghandi – “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” 

OK, but what actually is a B Corp? B Corp companies have to have met the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance. In other words, B Corp companies have to prove that they care about their people and our planet as much as profit. 

Becoming a certified B Corporation also means the company is legally required to consider all implications their business may have on workers, customers, community and the planet.

Basically, if you see a B Corp company, it means they have pledged and have demonstrated to the B Corp assessors that they’re using their business to enact positive change in the world. It is not an easy task.

How does a business become a B Corp?

Becoming B Corp certified means a business needs to be totally transparent about their operations and are held to a crazy high standard – as they should be. 

To date, just over 2500 companies across 60 countries have become B Corp certified and the community is growing really quickly. To even be considered, each applicant is assessed on the following criteria: 

1. Environmental impact of the business
2. Treatment of workers and customers 
3. Everyday business practices 
4. Transparency 
5. Future goals 

Companies are then given an “impact score” and must achieve a score of 80 or higher to become B Corp certified, pledging to do more to improve their score each year. This doesn’t mean that they’re all perfect but they are walking the talk and quite rightly should elevate their credibility in the eyes of conscious consumers. 

What does this mean for us?

As a new business in the first year of operations, a company can apply for something called B Corp Pending status which is what we’ve done at Treepoitns.

The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our generation, and we’re running out of time to fix it. The aim of Treepoints is to help individuals make a meaningful difference in the fight against climate change, starting immediately. And we do this by making it easy for anyone and everyone to offset their carbon footprint, with a goal of carbon neutrality.

Applying to become a B-Corp is our way of showing our commitment to our environmental mission. We are transparent about how we operate and our impact – the combined impact of the Treepoints community.

In 1 year, the B Corp assessment team will audit us and if they see that we’ve managed to pass the hurdle rate of the assessment, we will be joining the lofty ranks of the UK B Corp community.

This step is important for Treepoints because we want to hold ourselves accountable to higher standards of business practice. We hope that the B Corp logo will also help guide our community in making better shopping choices too.