B the Change Weekly: April 26, 2019
Delivered on Fridays, B the Change Weekly delivers the most important and most relevant stories about people using business as a force for good. The newsletter features a weekly note from the B the Change team alongside insight and context on the stories we share here on Medium. Below is our latest roundup. To receive these insights directly in your inbox, sign up for B the Change Weekly today. Now onto the good stuff:
Poverty. Gender equality. Climate change.
Tackling the world’s biggest challenges requires collaboration, dedication and a healthy amount of ambition. As outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 by all 193 United Nations member states, these issues — the three mentioned above and 14 others — are formidable, but they also present opportunities for growth and improvement.
Certified B Corporations and other purpose-minded business and organizations play a crucial role in overcoming these challenges and working to achieve the SDGs. By operating in ways that create better opportunities for workers while protecting the environment and strengthening their communities, B Corps serve as examples for other organizations looking to provide a better future for all people and for businesses looking to balance profit and purpose.
It’s a global movement that goes beyond B Corps, but one in which they can lead — by moving forward in the journey toward a better world.
Get Up-to-Speed on the SDGs
The Sustainable Development Goals comprise issues that require companies to rethink their business approach so they can contribute to a better future for all on Earth. To enhance this work, B Lab is working with the UN Global Compact and other partners to develop a tool for launch in 2020 to help companies chart their next decade of progress on the SDGs.
Gonzalo Muñoz, co-founder of Sistema B and co-founder and CEO of the B Corp TriCiclos, is among those working to get businesses and citizens involved in the SDG work. Muñoz recently was named to serve as Champion of COP 25 at the Santiago Climate Change Conference, which is expected to host 25,000 people December 2–13 in Chile.
The time to act on these global issues is now, Muñoz says: “There is no future on a dead planet. And through climate change we are killing our only environment that is required for all other SDGs.”
On B the Change, learn more about the SDGs, how they can guide and inspire B Corps, and why Muñoz sees them as the “mother of all causes.”
Curbing Plastic Pollution
Plastic pollution is among the most visible current climate concerns, with studies noting its pervasiveness (1 trillion single-use bags a year), its role in environmental justice (flooding countries that aren’t able to handle it) and its effect on marine life (plastics have been found in more than 60 percent of all seabirds and 100 percent of sea turtle species).
Yet it was not recognized as a separate goal when the United Nations adopted the Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs in 2015. The Plastic Soup Foundation and other advocacy partners are working to highlight the relationship among several SDGs and how the diverse negative impacts of plastic on sustainability demonstrate it is a tough and persistent problem.
On B the Change, learn more about the three actions the foundation sees as key to the fight against plastic pollution and how we can reduce plastic production and its associative harms in the first place.
Environmental and Social Innovation at SB’19
Join B Lab and more than 2,500 sustainability and brand leaders, 300 speakers, and 100 exhibiting brands who see environmental and social innovation as a critical driver to long-term business success at SB’19 Detroit, the world’s largest conference on purpose-led innovation.
During the conference, which convenes June 3 to 6 in Detroit, Michigan, you can hear from fellow B Corps like Danone, Method, Ben & Jerry’s, Eileen Fisher and Happy Family Organics.
Use the code “BLab” to save 20% on registration.
Book of the Week
By Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus, who created microcredit, invented social business and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in alleviating poverty, declares it’s time to admit that the capitalist engine is broken — that in its current form it inevitably leads to rampant inequality, massive unemployment and environmental destruction. He writes that we need a new economic system that unleashes altruism as a creative force just as powerful as self-interest.
In A World of Three Zeros, Yunus describes the new civilization emerging from the economic experiments his work has helped to inspire. He explains how global companies like McCain, Renault, Essilor and Danone got involved with this new economic model through their social action groups, describes the new financial tools now funding social businesses, and sketches the legal and regulatory changes needed to jumpstart the next wave of socially driven innovations. And he invites young people, business and political leaders, and ordinary citizens to join the movement and help create the better world we all dream of.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
Moving the Needle on the SDGs was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
