Agriculture and environmental science communications agency The Ad Plain (TAP) has become B Corp certified in recognition of its commitment to people and the environment.
TAP, which predominantly works in digital communications for a broad range of clients within the environmental science and agriculture industries, is one of just 1,300 businesses in the UK to be verified as meeting B Corp’s high standards of social and environmental responsibility.
B Corp is an international movement to change the global economy and encourage for-profit businesses to be a force for good. There are over 7,000 B Corp-certified companies across the world from global brands such as Patagonia to the UK’s Riverford Organics and the family-run Glen Lyon Coffee.
Duncan Murray-Clarke, group managing director of TAP and a Friend of the Guild, which has offices in the UK and Spain, said gaining certification – which took two years to achieve – demonstrates the firm’s commitment to those it works with, the planet and the wider community.
“We are very privileged through our work to be speaking daily to growers, agronomists, leading agricultural companies and other industry experts,” he added. “There’s a challenge to produce food sustainably, [which includes] the role of chemistry and how the industry is already showing good practice to enhance the environment and run sustainable businesses at various levels. The B Corp process triggered constructive conversations with B Lab [which administers the certification] and our team.”
As well as demonstrating its B Corp values through policy and governance, TAP sponsors employees to volunteer, including at board level, with a charity of their choice, which has included Reading for Dyslexia, UK farming charity, the Addington Fund, and the company is sponsoring children through school in developing countries. The business is carbon positive and conservation is at the heart of its ethos and values.
With agriculture and environmental science working as hard as many industries to meet environmental goals, the business puts emphasis on supporting clients throughout the supply chain to communicate their sustainability work and stimulate change.
Guild member and company director Emma Craigie said: “The B Corp lens has given us a structure and guiding principles for all that we do, including how we support our clients to communicate their sustainability and make change.
“Reassuringly, as we went through the verification process it was clear we were already doing so much in our business through choice.”
To complete the process, TAP invested in a full business audit, changed the legal structure of the business and rewrote staff and external contracts to commit to the B Corp values.
For more information on The Ad Plain, see https://theadplain.com/
