Waking Up to the Global Climate Emergency—and Taking Action
B Lab UK Shares a Playbook to Help Businesses Around the World Craft Climate Change Solutions
This blog was written by Charmian Love, co-founder and board member of B Lab UK, and Chris Turner, executive director of B Lab UK.
When we launched B Lab UK in 2015, we welcomed people to the movement with an invitation that “change is coming.”
Today, change isn’t just coming. Change is happening now.
Whether we’ve been moved by David Attenborough’s case for considering the climate facts, Greta Thunberg’s leadership of the youth climate movement and young people’s strikes around the world, the data in the 2018 IPCC report or the protests led by Extinction Rebellion, we are all now facing the climate emergency. People are waking up.
In the last few months we’ve seen the UK Parliament declare a climate emergency. We’ve seen UK universities declaring a climate emergency. We’ve seen UK businesses declaring a climate emergency. This is all exciting, important news, and we want to support more of this action.
Certified B Corporations meet the highest standards of positive impact on society and the environment. Learn what it means to be B Corp certified.
We believe business will play a critical role in enabling the transition that is so clearly needed — transforming the economic system that has led to the climate emergency. Within business we will find the necessary capital, the knowledge, the ingenuity, the networks, the technology and the courage.
B Corps are leading the way when it comes to transforming business into a force for good, and they have a tremendous opportunity to inspire and empower others. That is why we are excited to launch a playbook to guide business through the process of declaring a climate emergency.
This is about more than just making a statement. It is about putting in place radically ambitious goals that are meaningful in the context of the climate emergency. It is about taking urgent action and being held accountable. And it is about being highly practical and recognising that the time for talking is over. Today we need to act. Today we need a new level of leadership.
We know this won’t be for everyone and that declaring a climate emergency has its own risks. However, we also know that time is running out and that this is a unique moment for B Corps — and other businesses that want to join us on this journey — to step up and be part of the change we need.
This climate emergency playbook from B Lab UK includes information for businesses around the world:
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.
Waking Up to the Global Climate Emergency-and Taking Action was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
