A Conversation with B Lab’s Andy Fyfe
Certifications are one of the easiest ways for consumers to verify that the products and companies that they are consuming and interacting with are ethical and doing good for the planet. They signal to consumers that the organization has met stringent guidelines and are actively meeting high standards at every level of their business. I had the pleasure of speaking with Andy Fyfe, a Growth Catalyst at B Labs which is the nonprofit that verifies and administers the B croup certification. Fyfe speaks about his path to working at B Labs, why the certification is vital to today’s businesses, and what kind of future he envisions for our economy.
In your own words what is a B corps and why is the certification so critical to today’s businesses and economy?
B Corps are companies that work in better harmony with the evolving needs of our communities and our planet. They meet the highest standards of social & environmental performance, legal accountability, and transparency. It’s a new way of doing business and one that we need to envision a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy and planet.
When did you first learn about B corps?
2010 I met a fellow who was working for B Lab at Impact Hub San Francisco (the team I was on) and as a general skeptic of companies’ sustainability claims, I was drawn towards the systemic approach B Lab takes, beyond the company-level certification it conducts. Hearing that it was companies like Numi Tea, Guayakí, and Green Retirement Plans who were founding B Corps, affirmed to me this was something legit.
How did you get involved in the organization?
In 2010, I was an intern, doing super exciting data entry on excel sheets every day as we first started mapping out the types of companies we wanted to recruit to certify. I then started focusing on thinking through partners in the Bay Area, CA to help us work with more women and minority-owned businesses. It was an unlearning experience for me and invaluable listening to think through how this work can foster a more inclusive economy. I’ve now been with B Lab for 10 years and continue to work to grow and steward the Certified B Corp community across North America.
What issues do you see the certification solving and how does it tackle new issues as they arrive?
Non-profits and governments are necessary. We’re a non-profit. We work with governments to advocate for policy and benefit corporation legislation. However, I think they’re insufficient alone to tackle our most pressing challenges we face as a people and a planet. And so we need the private sector to shape up. It takes all of us. And with any movement towards change, we need viable alternatives. We see B Corps as viable alternatives, inspiring lighthouses for others to follow. And we call ourselves B Lab because we’re an experiment and so we need to remain nimble and responsive. And so what is required of companies in order to earn Certification will likely change so we can be more tangible towards what is required of the business community if we are to truly create a more inclusive economy and turn this climate emergency around. That is in the works right now and we’re excited to mobilize this community towards what’s possible collectively.
What do you imagine the future of business looking like? And where do certification fall within it?
I see a future where all companies are acting more like B Corps. That can come in the way of how they measure and manage their social & environmental performance (both private and publicly traded companies), they’ve adopted legal stakeholder governance, all companies are net zero carbon emissions by 2030 through verifiable carbon reduction, and there is increasing pressure for companies to pull out any business or investments in private prisons. Certifications hold companies accountable to their claims. COVID-19 and our recent and ongoing reckonings with racial injustice have revealed the role and responsibility of business in our society. The heartfelt reaction needs to be evidence-based. Show us your Board, your leadership team, your equity compensation ratio, your lowest wages, the conditions of the factories you work with. Certifications are critical to ensure an outside independent review.
Andy Fyfe https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-fyfe-he-him-21767123/
B Labs https://bcorporation.net
