Today, Ecotrust Forest Management was named “Best for the Environment” as one of the top performers among B Corporations worldwide. Sixty-three companies across 30 industries and 11 countries were recognized by the nonprofit B Lab, with the release of the B Corp “Best for the Environment List”, a second installment in its B Corp “Best for the World” series.
Ecotrust Forest Management is an Ecotrust subsidiary that manages 13,000 acres of Northwest forestland on behalf of investors and forestland owners to enhance forest health and productivity, and to produce a diverse array of forest products and services including timber, biomass, carbon, and improved habitat and water quality.
EFM seeks to capture a wide array of funding sources — New Markets Tax Credits, carbon credits, conservation easements, and restoration funding — to supplement private capital resources in the acquisition and management of forestland. The company also strives to create reliable jobs for local residents and opportunities for local communities.
“With so many companies marketing themselves as ‘green’, it’s important to honor those walking the talk,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab, the nonprofit organization that certifies B Corporations and governs the B Impact Assessment. “Ecotrust Forest Management has proven they’re the best of the best by meeting rigorous, comprehensive third party standards consumers can trust.”
Method Products, New Belgium Brewing Company, Patagonia and Seventh Generation were also recognized as leaders in environmental performance. Other honorees include Mas Ambiente, an Argentinian company producing handmade soap from used cooking and frying oil, Namaste Solar, an employee-owned, solar energy cooperative and New Leaf Paper, a developer and distributor of environmentally-responsible paper products. The ‘B Corp Best for the Environment’ companies come from over 30 different industries and 11 countries. 30% of honorees are based outside the US, with 8 companies operating in emerging markets.
The ‘B Corp Best for the Environment List’ honors businesses that earned an overall score in the top 10% of all Certified B Corporations for their positive environmental impact, as measured by the B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive assessment used by more than 8,000 businesses to measure their impact on their workers, community, and the environment. This analysis includes metrics regarding their environmentally preferable products, services, and practices, such as their materials, waste, water, and energy inputs/outputs and the environmental impact of their offices, plants, land, suppliers and transportation.
Each honored company is a Certified B Corporation, a new type of company that uses the power of business for good and meets rigorous standards of overall social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today there are nearly 750 Certified B Corporations across 60 industries and 25 countries, unified by the common goal to redefine success in business.
In April, B Lab recognized Ecotrust Forest Management and 66 other companies as ‘Best for the World’ (overall impact). B Lab will release separate lists recognizing companies as ‘Best for the Community’ (community impact) in July and ‘Best for Workers’ (employee impact) in September.
B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through several interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between “good companies” and just good marketing; 2) promoting benefit corporation legislation to create a new corporate form that meets higher standards of purpose, accountability and transparency; 3) driving capital to high impact investments through use of B Lab’s GIIRS Ratings & Analytics platform; and 4) helping all companies measure what matters through use of the B Impact Assessment, B Lab’s free educational tool for measuring and improving a company’s impact on it’s workers, community, and the environment. Learn more at bcorporation.net,benefitcorp.net, andgiirs.org.