This week, Campania-based company, Tenute Capaldo Group announced that it is now a B-Corp. The Group comprises the Feudi di San Gregorio winery in Irpinia, estates in Bolgheri (Campo alle Comete) and Basilicata (Basilisco), and its two Marennà restaurants (one located at the Feudi winery and the other in Capodichino Airport).
What is a B-Corp?
The B-Corp is one of the most rigorous certifications in the world related to defining social, environmental and governance best practices for businesses. The B-Lab website describes its B-Corp certification as ‘a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.’
B-Lab lists three key elements that must be addressed in order to become B-Corp-certified:
- Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing our risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards.
- Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
- Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.
Around 100 companies in Italy hold B-Corp certification, although Tenute Capaldo Group is one of just a small number of wineries – and it is the only winery in Italy to hold both B-Corp and Equalitas certification (the latter was granted in August 2021).
Achieving B-Corp certification is just the lastest achievement in Tenute Capaldo Group’s sustainability investment plan over the last five years, thought to be worth around €25 million. Other initiatives include becoming a founding member of Co2alizione Italia in May 2021 – an initiative of a small group of leading companies commited to carbon neutrality – and the implementation of increasingly low-impact cultivation methods, developed in partnership with national and international research centres.
Group president, Antonio Capaldo commented that ‘the final objective [is] to establish the company as a positive and regenerative force for the environment and the community.’