Tag Archives: environment

Birkbeck hosts ‘Environmental Finance for the Common Good’ Conference

The conference, organised by Dr Ellen Yu, was generously funded by the Money Macro and Finance Society and the School of Business, Economics and Informatics.

A group of people standing in the lecture theatre.

Birkbeck’s Department of Management was delighted to host the ‘Environmental Finance for the Common Good’ conference from 31 March – 1 April 2022.

More than 170 people registered for events during the two-day hybrid conference, which was organised by Dr Ellen Yu, Senior Lecturer in Finance.

Speakers included representation from international organisations and industry (the World Bank, Climate Policy Initiative, the US Conference Board, and the CFA Society of the UK), religious communities (the Vatican and the SGI UK), and academic peers from all over the world, who presented and shared ideas on environmental finance.

The conference aimed to understand the investment implications of environmental and social factors across different economies to achieve greater common good. Workshops over the two days included studies from industrial and middle- and low- income countries, providing a platform for all people working on environmental finance issues to discuss the latest insights and foster dialogue between academics and practitioners.

The diversity of speakers and attendees was highlighted at the evening keynote lecture, where representatives from industry, academia and religious communities came together to discuss pathways to a more inclusive, greener future.

The conference was funded by the Money Macro Society and the School of Business, Economics and Informatics.

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Are you truly sustainable? An investigation of de-certified B-Corps

Dr Silvia Blasi and Professor Silvia Rita Sedita shared insights from their research into B-Corps and the tendency towards de-certification in this Responsible Business Centre Seminar.

In response to the growing challenges of social and environmental issues, an increasing number of companies are looking to use business as a force for good to solve society’s big problems, not just for profit. B Lab, a not-for-profit organisation, has taken the lead in providing the necessary infrastructure for this shift.

However, as of April 2019, at least 930 registered B Corps were no longer certified on the B Lab database. What is the reason for this tendency towards de-certification, and what could be done to support businesses to improve their social and environmental impact?

On Tuesday 22 February 2022, Dr Silvia Blasi and Professor Silvia Rita Sedita joined Birkbeck’s Responsible Business Centre for a seminar on their latest research into this phenomenon. The paper discussed in this seminar is part of a project exploring B Corps funded by the University of Padova.

What is a B-Corp?

The B-Corp movement was launched in 2006 by B Lab, an American not-for-profit organisation, with the aim of creating an infrastructure for a new sector that would use the power of private enterprise to create public benefit.

The first 19 B Corps were certified in 2007 and the movement has rapidly gained momentum, with high-profile names such as Patagonia, Danone and Unilever becoming B-Corps. At the time of writing, there are now 3682 certified B Corps in over 70 countries and 150 industries.

The B Corps movement is accelerating a global shift to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Certification helps entrepreneurs to measure, capture and legitimise their social efforts (Woods, 2016). To obtain certification, an organisation must achieve a B impact assessment of 80 or more out of 200.

The growth of a movement

Since 2016, the number of companies that have used the B Impact assessment around the world has grown exponentially. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of B Corp certifications increased by 26%.

Dr Silvia Blasi noted that a rise in the number of B Corps has corresponded with increased scientific outputs in this field. A recent paper by the presenters conducts a literature review in this area and provides a clear-cut academic explanation of B-Corps.

Why is there a tendency towards decertification for B Corps?

Despite promising statistics showing the rise in new B Corp certifications, Silvia highlighted that in 2019, 930 B Corps were no longer certified. Her research aims to explore the reasons behind decertification.

Although there are no studies to date which explore decertification specifically, an analysis of the literature points to three main causes of decertification:

  • Financial problems – there is a high cost associated with (re)certification that poses a barrier to organisations.
  • Low economic benefits – organisations that do not see an increase in income as a result of certification are more likely to decertify in the future.
  • Perceived complexity of the certification process – perceptions of the certification process as a barrier and uncertainty about future requirements are a key factor behind decertification.

The presenters identified three further factors to explore that could impact on likelihood to decertify:

  • Size – small and medium-sized enterprises are at higher risk of decertification than larger companies. This could be due to limited resource and legitimacy challenges faced by smaller and younger firms.
  • Sustainability performance – research to date suggests that sustainability performance does not impact whether an organisation will become decertified.
  • Financial performance – Cao, Gehman and Grimes (2017) underline that de-certified companies have lower average sales compared to certified B Corps.

The study so far

Silvia shared insights from the presenters’ work-in-progress research paper exploring the reasons for decertification.

The research aimed to answer two questions:

  1. In comparison with currently certified B Corps, what are the main features of companies that did not maintain their B Corp certification?
  2. Are there any relationships between their decertification decision with their financial performance and sustainability performance?

The study sample comprised 1,272 companies, whose data was gathered from B Lab impact data and financial data from Orbis. Logistical regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between social, environmental and financial performance outcomes and B Corp decertification status.

The researchers found a theoretical assertion that B Corp decertification is susceptible to company size, with SMEs being particularly vulnerable. Organisations from Global South or developing economies also had a higher likelihood of decertification. In contrast, companies with higher operating revenue and strong governance had a weaker tendency towards decertification.

Company sector, community and location were not significant.

Silvia emphasised the importance of governance and workers as factors which have a significant role in shaping the probability of decertification, as these give priority to strategies and practices that benefit internal stakeholders. Inward investments in sustainability performance play a critical role in influencing the company’s decision to continue pursuing B Corp certification or not.

What are the implications for policy?

The findings of the study can help to identify signals of potential decertification so that certifying bodies can modify policies and processes to reduce decertification rates and companies can adopt new strategies and practices to retain certified status.

Supporting policies or company strategies could begin with boosting inward investment related to corporate governance, employee benefits, work environment etc. to ensure a solid basis for improving overall sustainability performance.

We would like to thank Dr Blasi and Professor Sedita for an insightful and thought-provoking discussion.

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Science Saturdays: Coughing up a lung, pollutants in our air

In May, Birkbeck’s School of Science held ‘Science Saturdays’, a programme of free online talks every Saturday, open to a global audience. In this blog, Tina Wright, Birkbeck PhD student, gives an overview of the talk she attended about pollutants in the air and how they affect the physical wellbeing of humans.

The Science Saturdays talk, ‘Coughing up a lung: pollutants in our air’ delivered by Dr Katherine Thompson, Reader in Biophysical Chemistry, observed how the environment influences physical wellbeing, more specifically, how the atmosphere and its composition of gases and particulate matter, which includes pollutants, interacts with a monolayer of molecules (surfactant) at the air-water interface of the lung to cause respiratory problems.

The content of the talk was a boon to the global cause of tackling climate change and its subsequent effects on worldwide mortality and morbidity rates. It provided information on how to investigate exactly what is happening on a molecular level and systemically in our bodies.

Our atmosphere, pollution and photochemical smog

Our atmosphere predominantly consists of nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O2) along with trace amounts of unnatural and naturally sourced gases, the former being sourced from human processes, for example, car exhaust fumes. These may be from petrol or diesel motors. Petrol motors release some water combined with lots of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons from incomplete combustion of fuel and nitrogen oxides (NOx) which includes nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Diesel motors burn fuel differently, therefore generate a different composition of exhaust gases, such as CO and hydrocarbons, but also release tiny particles that may be dangerous for human health, dependent on particle size.

As I’ve already mentioned, there are some natural sources of trace gases that add to our atmosphere and these include green plants that emit organic pollutants, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Photochemical smog is pollution present on sunny days and has a distinct character. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) features as a brown/orange gas, visible on the horizon on a clear day. A combination of this with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and sunlight produces ozone (O3). It is vital for life to have O3 in the stratosphere as it absorbs short wavelengths of light that may damage our DNA, however, when present in the troposphere as a secondary pollutant, the VOC-NOx-O3 relationship keeps its concentration high during warmer months, therefore, adverse effects may occur, notably at the air-water interface of the lung.

Lung physiology, function and properties on a molecular level

The lung is composed of the trachea, bronchi, bronchioles and finally, millions of alveoli, which are tiny sacs that increase the surface area of the lung for gas-exchange of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

Our bodies are wet systems but if the alveoli were lined with pure water, the surface tension (cohesive forces between water molecules), would be too high for expansion of the lung after compression. This issue is resolved by the action of surfactants present as a film on the lung interface that are composed of lipids, proteins, and cholesterol. Its importance is reflected by premature, newborn babies that lack lung surfactant and consequentially, experience difficulties breathing.

Diagram of the human lung. Credit: Frontiersin.org.

What happens when pollutants reach the lung interface?

Dr Katherine Thompson’s research focuses on the interaction of pollutants with the lung. A single layer of molecules (monolayer) of lung surfactant, similar to when it is found on the surface of the lung, may be analysed by the reflection of light. For example, a technique known as Brewster Angle Microscopy, allows the observation of the organization of molecules at the surface or interface, a simile of the lung.

A monolayer is very thin, therefore, the wavelength of light chosen for the reflection experiments should be shorter than the thickness of the monolayer. The wavelength of x-rays (photons) are very short, therefore, it can be used to look at these reflections. Photons may hit a surface and ‘bounce off’ to a detector, comparable to a gymnast jumping and landing on a mat, then coming away. This will give information, in the case of the gymnast, on the thickness of the mat or in the experiment, the single layer of molecules.  These experiments may be undertaken whilst the lung surfactant is simultaneously exposed to ozone and a thinning of the monolayer can be observed from rearrangement, breaking and bending of molecules at the surface. Physiologically, this may lead to inflammation of the lung.

This research is of paramount importance in the modern world, where the extent of the damage to our environment, and the subsequent effect on human health, needs further investigation and awareness raised to all.

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