The London-based business scored 110.4 in its B Impact Assessment, comfortably above the 80 required for certification and considerably higher than the global average of 50.9
.jpg.aspx?lang=en-GB&width=700&height=466)
Climpson & Sons operates two cafés, a roastery and a training academy in London | Photo credit: Climpson & Sons
UK specialty coffee roaster Climpson & Sons has attained B Corp accreditation as part of wider efforts to enhance its environmental sustainability.
B Corp certified companies are businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance and are evaluated by B Lab across five impact areas – governance, workers, community, environment and customers.
Candidates must score a minimum of 80 points across impact areas to become B Corp-certified and must recomplete the assessment every three years.
Climpson & Sons, which operates two cafés, a roastery and a training academy in London, scored a remarkable 110.4 in its B Impact Assessment, compared to a global average of 50.9.
The specialty coffee roaster, which supplies approximately 350 businesses across the UK, scored particularly highly in the workers and community segments, highlighting its commitment to employee well-being and community engagement.
Currently, over 50% of Climpson & Sons’ workforce is female or female-identifying. The business also operates a career pathway programme to help café employees develop skills suited to other roles in the company, including roasting, account management and IT.
“Whilst B Corp and certifications aren't the 'be-all and end-all' when it comes to sustainability it has been a really interesting process. I've had to examine and consider different aspects and metrics of what a sustainable business could look like; through measuring carbon emissions to governance and operations as a business and our supply chain,” said Nicole Ferris, Managing Director.
There are currently more than 6,000 B Corp certified businesses operating across 150 industries and over 80 countries globally.
Climpson & Sons’ B Corp accreditation follows that of UK-based Union Hand Roasted Coffee, Ozone Coffee Roasters and Pact Coffee, which became B Corps last year with scores of 103.4, 83.6 and 85.4 respectively.
Meanwhile, Origin Coffee, which operates five stores across Cornwall and London, with a sixth opening in Bristol in September 2023, attained accreditation in July 2020 with a score of 81.9.