Goldsmith, client strategy director at NativeEnergy, agrees that it’s vital to begin by determining your organization’s climate footprint and identifying big emissions drivers. “Then figure out what resonates most for your business and take action to address the biggest emission drivers accordingly,” he says.

Through his work at NativeEnergy, Goldsmith helps companies do just that: evaluating their value chain emissions, measuring business travel and other big greenhouse gas generators, and seeing how to address or offset them. This year he worked with Bodhi Surf + Yoga, a Costa Rican B Corp and Inclusive Economy Changemaker that wants to be a leader in the sustainable tourism industry.

“They’re a small retreat in Costa Rica, so they don’t have a huge environmental impact locally,” he says. “But where they do have a big impact is from their guests flying to the retreat. They identified that right away. For their business to be in the sustainability business, they have to account for the greenhouse gas emissions generated from their guests coming to them.”

NativeEnergy worked with Bodhi to identify and partner with a wind farm in Costa Rica that produces clean wind energy and generates credits that can be used to offset the carbon emissions from guests’ flights.

“It was a nice circle that connects back to their community,” Goldsmith says. “Bodhi went through the full process: measuring, identifying, coming up with a program to address its climate impact, communicating it to their guests and finding the right type of project to support. They went through the whole process in less than a year.”

Measurable Progress in the B Corp Community

As renewable energy opportunities grow around the world, so do potential community partnerships. Local connections created climate opportunities for 2018 Inclusive Economy Changemakers Ecotone Software Consulting and Paintbox Catering and Bistro Inc. The Toronto-based B Corps both have signed up with Bullfrog Power (also a Toronto B Corp) to offset their energy use with renewable energy.

At NativeEnergy, Goldsmith also works with companies that are diving deeper into their climate-mitigation efforts and developing custom emissions-reduction programs.

“These companies are integrating this into their value chain,” he says. “This can happen through trying to create emissions reductions through changes in your sourcing or how a key ingredient is grown. An investment you’re making in your own value chain will not only deliver the desired climate results but can support a project that’s changing an entire agriculture process and benefiting the communities where you’re sourcing from.

“This creates closer ties between your business and the supply communities you rely on, and deeper engagement around a key ingredient that could reduce risk in the future for your company,” he says.

Two 2018 IEC participants are good examples of this deeper investment. Dr. Bronner’s, a 2018 Inclusive Economy Changemaker, this year began monitoring and recording its greenhouse gas emissions by developing a calculator to produce accurate measurements.

The Vista, California-based B Corp, which produces soaps and other organic, fair-trade personal care products, is installing an oil refinery at its headquarters that will allow the company to refine olive and palm oils onsite rather than sending them to a third-party refinery in Holland. When the refinery goes online early next year, the company anticipates large reductions in its carbon emissions from reduced shipping.

Dr. Bronner’s onsite solar installation is part of its strategy to operate with 100 percent renewable electricity. (Photo courtesy Dr. Bronner’s)

In 2018, Dr. Bronner’s also agreed to purchase renewable-energy certificates from a community-supported solar project led by fellow B Corp OneEnergy Renewables. In combination with Dr. Bronner’s on-site solar panels and its partnership with a local utility to draw locally generated renewable electricity from the grid when necessary, the company headquarters now operates with 100 percent renewable electricity.

Its headquarters also boasts 14 recently installed electric vehicle charging systems to reduce the climate impact of worker commutes. Dr. Bronner’s covers all fees associated with the charging and offers a $1,000 incentive to employees who purchase or lease fully electric cars.

Renewable energy and carbon mitigation strategies, products and programs are at the heart of business at B Corp 3Degrees, another IEC participant. This year, its climate goals included tracking of emissions created by others in its supply chain, known as scope 2 and 3 emissions. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, while scope 3 emissions are the indirect emissions not included in scope 2 that are produced by others in the 3Degrees supply chain.

3Degrees reported these emissions for 2017 to The Climate Registry for its verification process and pursued an assessment of setting a science-based target assessment. Once it has that assessment, it will decide on next steps to reduce emissions.

What’s Ahead for Businesses Responding to Climate Change?

As the U.N. climate report notes, the deepening effects of climate change aren’t far off in the future — they’re barely more than a decade away, which makes the B Corp community’s work urgent.

Goldsmith and Clark say the Climate Working Group is thinking bigger for future opportunities while also focusing on purposeful participation. Because the B Corp community comprises small to large businesses at different paths on the sustainability journey, the Climate Working Group faced some related challenges, Clark says.

“I didn’t anticipate that there would be such a range in interest in terms of what B Corp companies would consider a collective climate action that they could take on for their company that would make sense for them,” she says. “We found it a challenge to reconcile the original idea with the diversity of B Corps and how we could create something that would be relevant for as many as possible.”

Goldsmith envisions a project that would support the B Corp movement, provide exposure for participating organizations and encourage more companies to participate at a meaningful level.

“There’s a great opportunity for the B Corp community of companies to drive a climate-focused project that has measurable and tangible impacts that they can claim causality for,” Goldsmith says. “The big challenge is balancing that against the desire and need of companies to want to invest in actions that will be solely beneficial to their company — and globally in terms of climate change mitigation.”

What that group push might be has yet to take shape — as with most work toward meaningful change — but through the IEC, B Corps will continue their multiyear progress toward a more equitable and diverse economy that works for the good of all people and our planet.