Baringa becomes certified B Corporation
As momentum grows for the B Corporation movement of the UK, Baringa has become the first consultancy of more than 1,000 staff to become B Corporation certified. The news sees Baringa join a network of 5,000 companies globally – and 700 in Britain.
B Lab is the non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet. Created in 2006, it certifies companies as ‘B Corporations’, with the mission to inspire and enable people to use business as a force for good.
Only businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose, can become certified B Corporations. This initially saw slow uptake from the consulting industry.
In the last two years, however, the advisory world has grown its B Corp presence at a faster rate. In late 2021, Kin+Carta even became the first B Corp accredited LSE business. Now, as the industry looks to cement its status as leading on ESG matters, Baringa has joined the ranks of the consulting B Corps.
Having met rigorous social and environmental standards, Baringa is another first for the industry. In this case, Baringa is the first global management consultancy with more than 1,000 employees to be certified as a B Corp.
Baringa Managing Partner Adrian Bettridge said, “This is a proud day for Baringa. We have always put clients’ success and our teams’ enjoyment at the heart of our strategy. In addition, we are proud to be recognised as one of the leading global advisors on climate change, net-zero and sustainability, across all industries. Therefore, becoming a B Corp felt like a natural next step, where we commit to remain focused as much on people and the planet as we do profit.”
Baringa is already a global consulting business with a clear purpose, according to Bettridge. Much of its work focuses on the environment, as it helps companies navigate the transition to net-zero, while also advising on how they can support financially vulnerable customers. At the same time, beyond its client work, Baringa also sends no waste to landfill, and its head office purchases only renewable electricity.
This put Baringa in good standing for the rigorous B Corp evaluation, apparently. B Corp certification addresses the entirety of a business’ operations and covers five key impact areas of governance, workers, community, environment and customers. While meeting the criteria in every area, a release from the firm asserts that Baringa scored unusually highly in the workers and environment categories.
Baringa now becomes part of a community of over 5,000 businesses globally who have certified as B Corps. The B Corp community in the UK, represents a broad cross section of industries and sizes, with over 700 companies and including well-known brands such as The Guardian, innocent, Patagonia, The Body Shop and organic food pioneers Abel & Cole. Firms of this size can help ‘drive the conversation forward’, according to the leader of B Lab UK – and Baringa is no exception to this.
Chris Turner, Executive Director of B Lab UK, commented, “This is a movement of companies who are committed to changing how business operates and believe business really can be a force for good… We are pleased to have B Corps of all shapes and sizes as part of our community… Welcoming Baringa is an exciting moment because they have an opportunity to lead the way within the management consulting industry. We and the rest of the B Corp community are really pleased to support Baringa in paving the way for a new way of doing things.
