Certification as recognition of steps forward
The Netherlands, Utrecht, 18 July 2023 – Ahold Delhaize’s Dutch e-commerce brand, bol.com, announced today that it can now call itself B Corp. This certification shows bol.com is on the right track towards a more sustainable and socially responsible organization. With its 13 million customers and 52,000 local sales partners, bol.com is proud to be an e-commerce platform of this size to achieve the certification. A B Corp must meet high, verified standards in terms of social and environmental impact, accountability and transparency. During the certification process, bol.com was assessed on all aspects of the business; from employees to suppliers and customers. Bol.com sees the certification as a milestone and means to assess, set targets and further improve more sustainable and socially responsible business practices.
Boukje Taphoorn, Chief Marketing & Sustainability Officer at bol.com, emphasizes that in addition to a sense of pride, the B Corp Certification sets a new standard for the future: "Of course it's fantastic that we are getting recognition in this way for our more sustainable choices and the social steps we have already taken so far. But we do not see certification as an end in itself. With the B Corp Certification, we are making a commitment for the future to continuously increase our positive impact on society. In addition, the certification process makes us even more aware of our impact on the earth. As one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the Netherlands and Belgium, we believe it is important to contribute to making more sustainable choices available and facilitating more sustainable options for everyone in the chain. That doesn't stop at the environment. We also want to do so in terms of corporate culture, transparency and social impact."
Wouter Kolk, CEO Ahold Delhaize Europe and Indonesia said: “I am proud of bol.com’s achievement. Being a company with this amount and variety of products, customers and sales partners, means that every step has significant impact. Bol.com’s commitment to taking customers and sales partners along on its journey, aligns perfectly with Ahold Delhaize’s goal to make healthy and sustainable choices easy for everyone.”
Process towards B Corp
Every year, bol.com reports progress on corporate social responsibility and the sustainability of its own processes. Today, bol.com also presented its 2022 sustainability report. The sustainable and social steps made, partly form the basis of the route to B Corp Certification. Tessa van Soest, Executive Director B Lab Benelux: "With the achievement of the B Corp Certification, bol.com has reached an important milestone. We support bol.com's efforts to encourage customers to make increasingly more sustainable choices and to help their sales partners become more sustainable. We welcome bol.com to the community and look forward to bol.com's future steps in their sustainability journey."
How bol.com is making more sustainable choices
In recent years, bol.com has been working on concrete steps in the field of corporate social responsibility. Some examples:
B Corp Certification: how does it work?
Every B Corp goes through an evaluation of its operations in five areas: governance, employees, community, environment and customers. Most companies score around 50 points in this evaluation. To get certified, you need to score a minimum of 80 points. Bol.com, compared to many other B Corps, is a relatively large company. When companies like bol.com seek certification, B Lab, the independent organization behind B Corp Certification, takes an even more thorough look at all business processes. Companies with B Corp status go through a rigorous assessment every three years to maintain it.
Throughout the B Corp process, which has lasted more than two years, bol.com has continuously worked on improvements for a more sustainable and social bol.com. The process consists of several steps: a risk analysis, impact assessment and improvement and verification of the results by B-Lab. The result is the publication of the assessment that provides full transparency on bol.com's sustainability performance. View bol.com's full B Corp assessment here. The certification was achieved with 81.2 points.
Cautionary notice
This communication includes forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Words and expressions such as steps forward, must, targets, future, believe, commitment, to help, steps, journey, will or other similar words or expressions are typically used to identify forward-looking statements.
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