B Corporation (B Corp) status – the global gold standard for social and environmental impact – was awarded to Low Carbon in 2020 by the non-profit organisation B Lab. The Best for the World 2022 lists, published this week, identify “exceptional” environmental practices throughout its global operation. The score also accounts for the sustainability of Low Carbon’s supply chain, a particularly impressive accolade given the company boasts a global portfolio of large-scale projects as it works towards a 20GW development pipeline by 2030.
Best for the World is a distinction granted to Certified B Corps with verified B Impact Scores that rank in the top five per cent of similarly sized businesses. There is a list for each key impact area: community, customers, governance, workers and environment. When ranking environmental impact, B Lab assesses the impact each B Corp makes to improving the quality of air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity – all proven priorities for Low Carbon.
Low Carbon’s recognition as a Best For the World on environment reflects the wider contribution the company makes to society and the communities its projects serve, and the engaging and inclusive working environment the company has created for employees.
In recent times, Low Carbon employees have visited local primary schools to host renewable energy themed education days, while the business has maintained a long-standing beekeeping tradition, with over two million bees housed in hives located at solar parks across the UK.
Today’s achievement caps an historic 12 months for Low Carbon. The company has celebrated its tenth anniversary, set an industry-leading target to achieve net zero by 2030, and announced a landmark partnership with the US life insurance giant MassMutual (owner of investment manager Barings). All these milestones have inspired the company to scale up its operations, by strengthening its foothold in European markets and expanding into new ones.
Low Carbon’s commitment to global expansion was signalled by the hire of Silicon Valley veteran Ed Colligan as Head of the Americas earlier this year.
“As the gold standard for businesses, all certified B Corps must adhere to unimpeachable standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and a legal commitment to balance profit and purpose” said Roy Bedlow, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Low Carbon, commenting on the results. “We are delighted to rank among an inspirational cohort of like-minded businesses. This is a huge source of pride for everyone associated with Low Carbon. As we scale up the business in pursuit of our ambitious operational goals and our net zero target, we have every intention to go even further to better society and serve people and planet.”
Dan Osusky, Head of Standards and Insights at B Lab Global, added that each Best for the World edition is an opportunity to raise the bar for how businesses can and should operate to create real and lasting positive impact for their workers, customers, communities, and the environment.
“While no company is perfect and even the best companies can and should continue to strive to improve, the B Corps recognised as Best for the World can provide us all - standards setters, B Corps, non B Corps, and sustainability advocates - with inspiration on what true leadership in business can look like to make progress on addressing our current global challenges” said Mr Osusky.
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