There is interest amongst the B Corp community to come together and determine how, as a collective we can set new standards within the industry to create spaces that deliver positive social & environmental outcomes whilst providing exceptional human experience.
How could we do this?
Share our experience, expertise and knowledge with each other to build our collective capacity
Form a community of practice to solve challenges together
Define and create a new standard in retail based on values of inclusivity, accessibility & environmental sustainability, which also encompasses functionality, design, consumption, construction and usability
Identify and set retail specific guidelines, goals and outcomes, guided by the B Impact Assessment and other meaningful tools such as the SDG’s & science based climate targets
Show leadership by developing resources to share with other businesses
If you or someone in your team is interested in having this conversation, please reply to this thread or invite them to join.
Please share in your reply: What topics and outcomes would you interested in and would like to discuss? What topics/issues can you share from your experience? And what outcomes would you like to see?
Possible areas of focus and outcomes include:
Understanding Impact & Priorities
Climate, Environment & Social Targets
Supply Chain
Lifecycle (fit-out & ongoing running/maintenance & consumption of sites)
I am very interested in a standardised impact report for B Corps. I do not think the front end website is enough information for consumers especially as the B Corp score system is so confusing and inconsistent across brands. Lots of B Corps also report very different things in their “annual impact reports” which does not give consistency across all the B Corps.
Region-specific, I think we have focused heavily on environmental-related topics, I think we need to spend some time focussing on some society-related topics. I would love to discuss JEDI, creating a stadardised pathway for businesses owned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other underrepresented groups to become B Corps.
I also think partnerships are super important. We look into the B Corp community a lot but there a plethora of companies that go above and beyond B Corp principles that we should be collaborating with. I think some guidelines around how to reach out to and partner with values-aligned businesses would be very useful.
That is my 2 cents for now!
I will tag @LydiaHo and @KarenPorter to get more people talking. Pass on the tag after you comment
Thanks Mindy - this is a great initiative and we would be happy to be involved and share our insights. We would be particularly interested to discuss and share our learnings on the following topics:
Supply chain of delivering a retail space
Lifecycle (fit-out & ongoing running/maintenance & consumption of sites)
Lease management & opportunities
Customers & employee experience
Waste management
Becoming a collective force & voice
Driving industry change
We have some insights we can share around stakeholder engagement and inclusive design in our branches. We would also be really interested in improving sustainability outcomes linked to the selection of retail sites and through fit-outs and refurbishments.
