Last year, zeroCO2 received the B Corp certification, an official recognition awarded after the achievement of specific performances in the social and environmental spheres. Only one year after joining this movement, zeroCO2 was named B Corp™ Best for the World™ 2022 for the outstanding positive impact generated in the area of Governance: we are within the top 5% of the 5000 B Corporations of the same size in this category!

The Best for the World distinction is awarded by B Lab to certified B Corporations that have scored exceptionally well in one or more areas of the B Impact Assessment – community, customers, environment, governance and people.

Corporate governance is defined as the set of principles, rules, procedures, and relationships that affect the management and governance of collective entities, companies, businesses or institutions. The governance assessment criteria for B Corp certification include the overall mission of the company and values such as ethics, social and environmental responsibility and transparency.

“We did not expect this specific recognition, but living zeroCO2 from the inside, I am not surprised: this is a company that has chosen the legal form of a Benefit Corporation from the very beginning, thus distinguishing itself as a company oriented towards achieving environmental and social objectives,” explains Cecilia Monari, Head of Forestry and Operations at zeroCO2 in charge of the complex application process to obtain the certification.

Transparency and ethics are two fundamental components within zeroCO2’s corporate governance. Our KPIs – Key Performance Indicators, are inherently social and environmental in nature, aligning with our mission and business strategies: the more trees we plant, the more CO2 we are able to absorb and the more communities we can support, providing peasant families with the tools to subsist autonomously.

Our Chloe tracking system also allows us to supervise the growth of most trees we plant and donate to those families. Thus, our customers are informed about how the adopted tree generates socio-economic benefits to the communities we support in Guatemala, Argentina, Peru, Tanzania and agricultural cooperatives in Italy and Portugal. Our results are communicated through corporate reports and are publicly accessible.

Considering the best practices adopted, the B Corp governance category also focuses on how companies connect their employees and the community with their overall mission, provide access to financial information, give customers opportunities to share their feedback and are diverse in their governing bodies.

At zeroCO2, values, goals, and business results achieved are intimately shared by our team members, both in Italy and in each of the countries where we have created projects together with local communities.

“This new recognition for zeroCO2 shows us that the hard work done during the last three years has been carried out in the right way. Nevertheless, as the projects, team members and rewards multiply, so do the challenges we face,” explains Cecilia. “In this scenario, we aim to continue improving, and the B Corp model remains our reference and a crucial representation system, useful to orient ourselves and our activities in the ocean of sustainability.”