An introduction to the environmental standards and certifications available to small UK businesses.

Many companies often consider themselves to be sustainable and/or carbon neutral, but the accuracy of these claims may be debatable. For your company to be recognised as a carbon neutral business, it is important to meet certain environmental standards and certifications.

One certification Wood & Disney are aiming to achieve is to become a B Corporation. B Corps are defined as “businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability” (B Lab). Certified B Corps are expected to measure their impact across five areas:

• Governance,
• Workers,
• Customers,
• Community, and
• Environment.

Any company can do this via the free and confidential online assessment B Labs offer called the B Impact Assessment (BIA).

ISO offer several standards your company can certify for. Among these, the ISO 14001 Environmental Management standard is an important step for environmental protection. It sets out criteria for an environmental management system and provides your company with a framework to minimise your environmental impacts (ISO-Cert Online Ltd).

Another standard which may be beneficial for companies aiming for carbon neutrality is the ISO 50001 Energy Management standard. This framework is an excellent tool for companies attempting to become more resilient against energy availability and costs, helping them implement an energy management system (EnMS) (British Standards Institution).

Certifying for both of these standards may potentially play an important part in your journey to carbon neutrality and they offer many more which individual companies may find useful. To become certified, companies are required to update their ISO template and submit the required documents to their website. Once your company has passed, they guarantee to issue your certification within 24 hours.

PAS 2060 is an internationally recognised standard designed to verify the accuracy of business’ claim to be carbon neutral, and help companies achieve true carbon neutrality through earnest means (NQA). Built on existing environmental standards, such as PAS 2050 and ISO 14001, companies are considered carbon neutral after progressing through four stages:

• measurement,
• reduction,
• offsetting, and
• documentation.

Once complete, they can be verified through an independent third party, such as NQA.

Social Accountability International’s SA8000 is a widely recognised global standard aimed at managing human rights in your workplace (British Standards Institution). Whilst not directly focused on the environment, achieving this standard is important in ensuring transparent business practices and a fair working environment for your workers. This is often assessed by NGOs and investment analysts, and is included in some environmental certifications such as B Corporations. You can request a quote for your company on the British Standards Institution’s website.

These are just a few of the many standards and certifications available for your business. It is recommended you research those which you determine best for your company as the path towards becoming carbon neutral is often specific to individual businesses.