It should be good practice for all companies to consider the impact they have on people and the planet of equal importance as their financial performance. As a responsible business, and a certified B Corp, this is something that is engrained in our culture and embedded into our legal articles – we have made a legal commitment to create a positive impact for the benefit of all.
There are numerous benefits for companies in producing annual impact reports, not least providing a public demonstration of openness, transparency, and a willingness to keep improving. A true impact report should not be a marketing tool, attempting to “greenwash” a company’s shortcomings; rather, a warts-and-all snapshot of how the company is performing across a range of topic areas where its operations might have a negative impact, or its corporate behaviour has the potential to deliver a positive impact.
Committing to honest, open, annual reporting can be a liberating, and somewhat scary, experience for a business. On the one hand, it exposes the parts of the business that are not that great for the environment or society, but it also offers an opportunity to demonstrate what the company is doing to reduce any negative impacts, such as reducing packaging, paying better prices to suppliers, or reducing carbon emissions. Reporting annually provides the opportunity for a company to set out its aspirations and plans for future improvements and allows stakeholders to join them over several years, on their journey to greater positive impact.
Our 2020/21 Impact Report is the first we have produced and published, prompted by our being certified as a B Corp in 2020. We think it's a decent first attempt at reporting our impact, but there are initiatives we are working on now that aren't far enough advanced to have made it in to the report, such as our planned shift to compostable packaging, our carbon footprint assessment and our planned community investment projects. They will be in the next Impact Report.
