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Deeply rooted in social change

Phil just applied for our B Corps (Benefit Corporation) Certification! For those of you that don’t know what this is, it’s a certification that verifies a company meets the “highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, and aspire to use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems.” B Corps call themselves “a growing global movement of people using business as a force for good™.”

Everything B Corps supports and practices aligns with how Phil wants to be distinguished as a leading social business. We will get more into the nitty-gritty of the perks that come with being a B Corps when our application is processed and we start to benefit from being a Benefit Corporation. During the process of applying, we were incredibly impressed that B Corps has mass-systematized the measurement of impact in a way that is both applicable and straightforward for companies and keeps them accountable for walking the talk.

For example, they ask about Type 1, 2, and 3 CO2 emissions. There are many automatic online calculators that will measure your business’s CO2 emissions. Phil has been tracking our CO2 emissions–and offsetting them–using a Montreal-based company called Taking Root. Similar to B Corps, we have a social business crush on almost everything about the company: from their mission, to their human-centered design, to their cohesive branding–Taking Root is does it right.

Taking Root measures your business’ CO2 emission and then you offset those emissions by paying for planting the number of trees that will use the amount of CO2 your business emits. However, their impact is really bifold. First and foremost in the area of deforestation, a major contributor to climate change. Second, their planting model directly benefits the people that plant the trees. One of the leading causes of deforestation is people, usually in the poorest parts of the world, clearing their land to use it to make an income. Common reforestation efforts don’t take into account the needs of these people and as a result, they fail to sustain growth and rarely survive after their first year.

This is sadly all too common; social businesses and non-profits that fail to think about people’s needs are not successful. Taking Root is different.

Instead, Taking Root has a human-centered design, working in partnership with farmers in the poorest parts of the world to reforest their land and provide them with an income. Taking Root gives farmers access to markets for the goods and services produced by their trees, trains them on how to grow productive and healthy trees, and gives farmers cash payments based on the growth of the trees. When companies pay to offset their CO2 emissions, they’re paying for a sustainable deforestation solution because it impacts the root cause of deforestation.

So if your business tracks and offsets their CO2 emissions–great! Consider switching to Taking Root. If you don’t, today is the time to start. Send Taking Root an email to start tracking your CO2 emissions and help mitigate deforestation and the people most affected.

Read more about the certification on Why B Corps Matter.