UK: The travel brand Sawday’s is the first accommodation platform in the UK to announce its certification as a B Corporation.
Established in 2015, B Lab UK is a non-profit organisation that measures and verifies a company’s environmental and social performance using its B Impact Assessment.
A certified B Corporation is one that achieves “the highest standards of social and environmental impact”.
Sawday’s certificaiton comes after an assessment process of responsible practices, including energy supplies, waste and water use, employee benefits, diveristy and corporate transparency.
By 2025, the company has pledged to plant one million trees with the ambition to become carbon negative.
Mike Bevens, managing director at Sawday’s, said: “We are delighted to be part of a small, but growing, movement of companies wanting to make a positive social and environmental impact. This certification is recognition of the way our company has always chosen to do business and sits as part of our wider impact strategy. We are looking forward to further embedding these values into our business in 2020 and beyond”.
Kate Sandle, director of programmes and engagement of B Lab UK, added: “Being able to welcome Sawday’s to the B Corp community is hugely exciting. Their commitment to doing business differently will be an inspiration to others and really help spread the idea that we can redefine success in business to be as much about people and planet as it is about profit”.
The Sawday’s group, which includes glamping company Canopy & Stars, was established more than two decades ago by Alastair Sawday, who at the time was a tour guide in France.
In 2018, Sawday’s became majority employee-owned, making it only one-of-five companies in the United Kingdom that are both employee owned and a registered B Corp.
At present, there are close to 250 certified B Corps in the UK, and over 3,000 worldwide. Notable brands include The Body Shop, Patagonia, Pukka Herbs, and Abel & Cole.
