How Investors in the Environment (iiE) Supported our B Corp Certification

At Genee Consulting, our commitment to sustainability and ethical business practices led us on the journey to becoming a certified B Corporation. One of the most instrumental partners in this process was Investors in the Environment (iiE) - a brilliant framework for establishing an effective environmental management system.

Having been through Investors in the Environment accreditation and achieved Green level accreditation, Genee recognised how well this prepared the business for their wider aspirations of becoming B Corp™ certified. The iiE framework provided the tools and templates to guide Genee through the development of their environmental management system, and enabled Genee to evidence our environmental credentials and satisfy B Corp’s environmental impact pillar.

Investors in the Environment’s staged approach to sustainability for organisations examines environmental management holistically, from policies and action plans to communications and initiatives. Like B Corp™, iiE supports the idea that better business is built on continuous improvement and is an ongoing process for organisations seeking to be truly sustainable. Through this framework, we were able to:

• Develop an effective governance structure including a comprehensive environmental policy, using iiE’s clear and effective templates.

• Implement a structured waste management system to track, reduce, and divert waste more efficiently.

• Measure our resource consumption, helping us set reduction targets and identify key areas for improvement.

• Calculate our carbon footprint, an essential step in our sustainability journey.

• Communicate our environmental impact both internally to our team and externally to our clients and stakeholders.

  
  

B Corp’s application process involves completing the B Impact Assessment, which includes answering a series of questions about your company’s practices and outputs, including environmental impact. The questions range from how the company monitors and reports on its energy and water usage, to waste management. As part of the iiE accreditation, all of this information was to hand to evidence how they operate and had been audited by iiE to verify its value as an effective environmental management system.

Tackling your organisation’s environmental impact can seem daunting, but iiE breaks it down into achievable actions, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes. This method complements B Corp’s culture of growth and innovation, reinforcing that sustainability is not a one-time achievement but an ongoing journey, and providing a clear roadmap to environmental responsibility—making sustainability not just an obligation, but an integral part of business success.

Beyond initial certification, one of the key requirements of B Corp re-certification is demonstrating a measurable and ongoing commitment to sustainability. Investors in the Environment provides the necessary evidence to support our future applications, ensuring that we have a robust environmental management system in place, as well as data-driven proof of our sustainability initiatives as well as clear records of our impact and improvements.

Managing Director of Genee, Jo Holmes, said, “When we started looking into the B Corp movement, we could see how well this aligned with our mission and values at Genee. At Genee, we seek partnerships and projects which add value and benefit to our community, whilst supporting organisations across the North East region to embed sustainability into their operations. Having already been through the iiE accreditation was a saving grace, as it enabled Genee to quickly evidence our environmental impact, with all of the resources we had created when setting up our Environmental Management System using the iiE framework.”

At Genee Consulting, we are proud to be a certified B Corporation, and we credit iiE for helping us establish a strong foundation to support both our application to B Corp, but also our ongoing environmental improvements. If your business is on the path to B Corp certification, we highly recommend leveraging iiE to simplify the process, strengthen your impact, and drive lasting change.