Becoming a certified B Corp is no easy feat. Companies seeking the certification must undergo a rigorous assessment and verification process to meet the highest social and environmental standards. However, the work doesn’t end when you become a B Corp. Maintaining your B Corp status is an ongoing process that requires a re-assessment every three years.
ustwo became a B Corp in December 2019 and we’ve now passed our first recertification with flying colours! We’re proud to have achieved a new score of 110.4, an increase on our previous score of 81.7. This makes us one of the top B Corp certified digital product studios in the world.
In the last three years, our commitment to sustainability and social responsibility led us to make significant changes across our business. There’s no better time than now to share how we became a better business and increased our B Corp score along the way.
We became employee-owned
In April 2022, our founders transferred the majority ownership of the business to all current and future employees. This is one of the most significant changes we’ve made as a business, and it helped us improve our B Corp score in the Governance section of the assessment. Our new Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) structure means that everyone at ustwo is a partner in the business and will continue to receive a third of our profits. We elected three employee representatives to sit on the board, which gives us all a say in the future of ustwo. Being employee-owned demonstrates our commitment to creating an equitable and inclusive workplace; one where we can preserve our independence and protect our values - read more about our employee ownership.
Impact reporting
Transparency is another area where we made significant improvements. Since 2020, we’ve published an annual impact report which details how we’re progressing with our sustainability and social responsibility goals. Our annual impact report helped us score highly in the transparency category of the B Corp assessment, as it demonstrates our commitment to openness and accountability. We believe transparency is key to building trust with our people and clients, so we're pleased to have received recognition for our efforts in this area - read our latest Impact Report.
Working with underserved communities and purpose-driven clients
ustwo is very proud to design and build digital products that improve people’s lives globally. This includes working with purpose-driven organisations, which represent a third of our client revenue! During the recertification process, we were awarded with two Impact Business Models (IBMs) for creating products that enable the success of purpose-driven enterprises, and for serving underserved populations through our business model. Being able to provide documentation that measures the impact of our work and our client satisfaction was a crucial part of the recertification process.
Environmental improvements
We’ve worked hard over the last three years to improve our environmental performance. We implemented a range of initiatives, including joining the Net Zero 2030 pledge with the B Corp Climate Collective, monitoring the air quality in all our global studios, and planting trees every month on behalf of our employees to offset their carbon footprint. We also worked with our landlords to reduce our carbon footprint by switching to using renewable energy in our London and Malmö studios. These changes are the first steps of a long road ahead, but they demonstrate our commitment to reducing our environmental footprint and mitigating our impact on the planet.
Increasing our B Corp score during the recertification process is a significant achievement for us, and we hope our progress will inspire other businesses who believe in doing things differently. We look forward to continuing our work towards a brighter, more sustainable future for all.