Celebrating The Next Phase Toward BCorp Certification

Tuesday 31st January 2023. This date marks a momentous occasion for everyone at Colart as we progress to the next phase of gaining B-Corp Certification and submitting evidence for verification. At the London Hub, we celebrated this by "ringing the bell". Because it is such a significant milestone, we are celebrating this moment by sharing it with everybody, including ringing the bell 😉

What is B-Corp Certification?

Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.  Find out more about B Corp Certification please click here or copy/paste this URL into a new tab in your web browser: https://bcorporation.uk/b-corp-certification/

What does Verification mean?

This is similar to most audits, where auditors review our submitted evidence and response to each assessment question. Note, for Colart we have to complete three assessments across the UK, Europe and China with 200 questions per assessment.

Who has been involved in this process?

We have been in direct contact with fifty people across the business. However, this does not include all the people that may have contributed. Some teams include Legal, Finance, HR, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Digital, Consumer Care, I&D, IT, Insights ... and more.  This process has touched all aspects of our business, even the Chairman of the Board. We could not have got this far without all of you.

What happens next?

B Corp analysts have been assigned to us and our first audit kick-off meeting will be held on 13th February.  After this meeting, we will work with these analysts to initially explain our business which is measured as complex for a B Corp organisation. As a collaborative, we will work through the questions and evidence we have provided. At this stage, we may lose points or gain them. As part of this process, they may also need to visit sites and/or talk to various team members. We have been advised that this stage of the process can take from six weeks, up to three months.

When or if we "pass" Verification, then what happens?

At this point, our results will be shared publicly. We can then share our B Corp Certification status externally and internally, if we are successful.

This is just the beginning, as being a B Corp, we need to continuously improve. We will work with the key stakeholders to create a roadmap for long-term improvements and re-certification, which happens three years after initial certification.

While we feel confident enough to submit our evidence, we still need certification. We cannot guarantee this yet. Regardless of the final outcome, all the effort to date, particularly in the last 12 months, has added value and benefit to Colart and our people.