Collective Actions
As the B Corp Movement continues its expansion, the potential for collaboration among individuals, businesses, industries, and communities expands as well, providing avenues to tackle society's most urgent challenges. This is why we provide a breeding ground for collective actions.
Why is this important?
Companies must look beyond their own organizations and collaborate to access new skills.
Adopting a stakeholder governance approach requires companies to address systemic issues such as the climate crisis, environmental damage and inequality. Generally, they do not have
the capabilities, influence or scale to achieve these goals alone. Industry-level change is needed for true sustainability, particularly in supply chains for raw materials. Companies will have to recognize that more programs will require cooperation, sometimes even with competition. The default isolated approach won’t be effective to tackle Agenda 2030 goals.
Recognize what Collective Action is not.
Real, lasting change does not come from short-term awareness-raising campaigns, simple commitments or signatures on a document. Success is measured by the change achieved in the desired time-frame against the goal.
Regulation, public/private cooperation and partnerships that deliver a sustainable economy are Collective Actions.
It’s time for confrontational relationships with regulators to end. Reframe your thinking so that it is not a win-lose relationship. Companies need to work together with regulators to create the
right framework so that companies are competing to be the best for the world, not the best in the world.
What we mean by collective action?
Collective Actions happen when multiple actors take deliberate action to wield collective power and voice to scale their impact.
Collective Action has a clear shared purpose and goals, to collaboratively deliver specific measurable impact(s) aligned to B Lab’s global theory of change. (Collective actions can be anchored by organizations, B Corps, CEOs or other leaders ect.)
Common Themes:
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Uses collective power and voice for impact at scale.
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Has clear common purpose and goals that are measurable.
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Requires collaboration but is not the same as collaboration.
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Leverages synergies vs. “reinventing the wheel.”
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Delivers specific positive impact(s) via operational behavior change, policy change, and culture change.
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Multi-stakeholder approach
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Engaged more than one region
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Builds knowledge and practice (new impact evidence by practice)
Examples of Collective Actions
“We demonstrate the collective power of our businesses to create an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system for all people and the planet. We commit to taking bold and urgent action on climate, using advocacy, collaboration, and corporate action to stop emissions, drawdown carbon, and build just and inclusive companies and communities.”
“The coalition’s mission is to enable collaboration and exchange between companies; identify and share better practices, implement improvement actions; help beauty customers more easily navigate the category; and to influence the beauty industry to trigger broader changes which can ultimately improve its social and environmental footprint.”
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CEOs and board members must lead the change to create a more resilient world. Through their decisions and actions, board members will be key to addressing the major environmental and social challenges we face. To help companies address these challenges and strengthen Swiss businesses’ international competitiveness, B Lab Switzerland and InTent have developed the Swiss Boards for Agenda 2030 (#SBA2030), an alliance of CEOs and board members committing their companies to take action by making credible commitments on the SDGs, making by-law changes and attending positive impact strategy training.
Working group on digital sustainability
and sustainable digitization
The EBC Working Group on Digital Sustainability and Ethics works on actionable measures for Swiss companies to improve their digital sustainability by:
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Selecting and developing sustainable software
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A life cycle of the used hardware and infrastructure adapted to defined requirements and respecting resources.
Members of the working group commit to the Charter and contribute their knowledge and network to promote sustainability in the digital sphere.
For more inspiration and actions to take!
Programs & initiatives within and outside of the B Corp World:
The Interdependence Coalition is setting out to change company law at a European level, so we can truly unleash the power of business to be the force for good. But influencing policy across the region is a long-term ambition that will require time, evidence, and strength in numbers. With the launch of the Interdependence Coalition, we aim to:
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Build a strong case for stakeholder governance and management through research and case studies from companies that are leading the way
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Demystify the concept of stakeholder governance and management and equip more businesses with resources to engage their directors
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Build a coalition of leaders across business, academia, law, policy making, and environmental practice to speak with one voice on the changes we seek in response to the European Commission’s proposal on Sustainable Stakeholder Governance.
A framework for inner development to drive change
The Inner Development Goals framework is fundamental in the work to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals gave us a comprehensive plan for a sustainable world by 2030. The 17 goals cover a wide range of issues that involve people with different needs, values, and convictions. There is a vision of what needs to happen, but progress along this vision has so far been disappointing. We lack the inner capacity to deal with our increasingly complex environment and challenges. Fortunately, modern research shows that the inner abilities we now all need can be developed. This was the starting point for the 'Inner Development Goals' initiative.