THERE ARE MANY THINGS WE ARE DOING IN ORDER TO WALK THE TALK OF WHAT WE HAVE AMBITIOUSLY STATED ON THE HOME PAGE OF OUR WEBSITE: WORKING HARD TO BECOME THE WORLD’S LOWEST ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CLOTHING AND BEACHWEAR BRAND.
14th May, 2021
Last week, thanks to the B Heroes friends, we had the opportunity to spend an afternoon in the company of Francesco, Nativa’s Evolution Flow Leader.
Who is Nativa?
Nativa was the first Benefit Company in Europe and the first Certified B Corporation in Italy. Their purpose is to create a positive impact on society, the biosphere and the economy; country partner of B Lab for Italy.
B Lab is a non-profit company that, since 2006, has globally promoted the movement of B Corporations and the legal form of Benefit Corporations, in partnership with the non-profit AssoBenefit which aggregates the main promoters of the Benefit Corporation model in Italy.
Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high-quality jobs with dignity and purpose. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.
TWO ROADS, ONE GOAL
1. BENEFIT CORPORATION
A form of for-profit company characterized by a higher level of transparency, accountability and purpose / mission. A legal entity that is committed to considering the impacts on all stakeholders, not just shareholders. The law is available in Italy, the USA (36 states), Colombia, Ecuador and France.
>> SEAY is a Benefit Corporation since 2020.
2. B CORP
The impact measurement and the certification of excellence are awarded by the non-profit B Lab. The B Corp company meets the highest standards in the world of social, environmental and economic performance and is also committed from a legal point of view to consider all stakeholders. Any for-profit business in any country can pursue B Corp certification.
>> SEAY has completed the B Impact assessment, the first step towards becoming a Certified B Corporation.
Among the projects defined for the 2021, we are dedicating particular attention to the path that will lead us to become a Certified B Corp; the first step is done (B Impact Assessment), having obtained a score higher than 80 points, we are now waiting to validate the score with B Lab which is, as described above, the certifying office for B Corp. At that point we will only have to sign the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence and the game will be done. We still have about 6-7 months to go before we become a B Corp, and in the meantime?
In the meantime we are working on the SLCA Matrix (Sustainability. Life Cycle. Assessment) for each of our products. The SLCA matrix allows us to evaluate the sustainability profile of a product over the entire life cycle divided into successive macro-phases, measuring its impacts and mapping the planned activities with the ultimate aim of reducing them. It is therefore a question of assessing the impact by assigning a rating to (1.) Raw materials used, (2.) Production and Packaging, (3.) Distribution, (4.) Points of sale, (5.) Use and (6. ) End life – for each of them. The result will be a map that unequivocally highlights the activities we should implement to further improve our sustainability grade.
In parallel, thanks to the SDG Action Manger developed by B Lab, we are about to start calculating our grade for the 17 SDGs defined by the United Nations, namely the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 169 sub-objectives, that aim to end poverty, fight against inequality and social and economic development aiming at sustainable development capable of tackling climate change and building peaceful societies by the year 2030.
We could have done none of this, saving a lot of energy and a lot of time, but we think it is literally “immoral” to start an entrepreneurial path nowadays without building it from the ground up on a profound environmental and social responsibility.
