Will Routh, Chirpy Heat

We set up Chirpy Heat because we wanted to find answers to all the questions we had when we worked in housing and were trying to deliver affordable, reliable and low carbon heat networks for customers.  We were determined to be a business that not only made a difference to our clients but made a difference in the way we ran it.   We are passionate about the work we do, and embedding, verifying and certifying our social and environmental purpose was a key strategic ambition for the business – to walk the talk.

After considering a range of options including various ISO, ESG and other accreditation schemes, we chose B Corp because we wanted a holistic approach that covered all aspects of the work we do, the impacts we have in the world, as well as how we minimise the environmental impact of our business operations and promote equal, fair and generative working practices.  B Corp ticked all of these boxes.

Did it deliver? Plot spoiler here – it did and it does. At the heart of this is because of two things – Challenge and Change. The Challenge came from B Corp’s rigorous examination of our working practices, challenging us to think about five key areas of our business operations: Customers, Workers, Environment, Community and Governance.

The Change comes not only from all of those aspects that we had to look at but also because this is just the start. It has engaged the whole business – all of our teams – to think about what we do and why we do it and continues to make us to do this going forward.

Is it easy? You know the answer to this already – of course not. It takes up a lot of time and thought; it makes you go back and challenge all the things you thought you had sorted, all the decisions you made you thought were so smart.  It makes you look in all the nooks and crannies of the business that needed looking at but sometimes got missed because we focused on delivery.

OK so the answer to the question we posed at the start of this – should you B Corp? We think the answer is a pretty emphatic yes. Not easy, not always comfortable, sometimes distracting from the urge to be delivering but we are in no doubt that we know more about our business, the things we do, the choices we make and whether we are doing everything we can to deliver the business we wanted to all those years ago.

That age old question – would you recommend it to a friend? For sure.  It’s delivered what we wanted and much more, and we have no doubt this is true for many business that go down the BCorp road.  We recognise that it is a journey that is not complete – there is still more that we can and will do to improve as a business. Most importantly there is a lot more we can do to support our clients deliver the low cost, affordable heat of the future – we look forward to going on that journey with all of you.