Comvita achieve B Corp certification

Friday 18th August 2023

Comvita Limited (NZX: CVT ) today announced that they have achieved B Corp Certification marking a significant milestone in their commitment to responsible and sustainable business practices and joining a global community where business is a force for good. B Corp Certification is an internationally recognised designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on a broad number of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) factors. Comvita undertook this comprehensive exercise for their NZ and international operations and have now received their certification status.

This achievement reflects Comvita’s determination to leave the world in a better place as captured in its market leading Harmony Plan. Certified B Corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Comvita joins a growing global community of like-minded companies that strive to balance profit with purpose, seeking to use business as a force for good. Comvita became the first listed company in NZ to change its constitution reflecting its commitment to consider all stakeholders in its decision making when its shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the resolution at its FY22 Annual Shareholder Meeting (ASM).

Comvita CEO, David Banfield, said “I am so proud to announce that we are now B Corp certified and want to thank all the team for their hard work to achieve this prestigious recognition. High quality retailers globally are demanding evidence of brand integrity, especially around ESG performance claims and B Corp provides that evidence and will open up new distribution opportunities globally. Achieving this certification has been a personal ambition since I first read about it back in 2007 and we believe B Corp aligns perfectly with Comvita’s founding philosophy and is aligned to our purpose, to work in harmony with bees and nature to heal and protect the world.”

Ends.

For further information contact:

Kelly Bennett, One Plus One Communications

Mobile: +64 21 380 035

Email: kelly.bennett@oneplusonegroup.co.nz

Background information Comvita

Comvita (NZX: CVT ) was founded in 1974, with a purpose to heal and protect the world through the natural power of the hive.  With a team of 600+ people globally, united with more than 1.6 billion bees, we are the global market leader in Mānuka honey and bee consumer goods. Seeking to understand, but never to alter, we test and verify all our bee-product ingredients are of the highest quality in our own government-recognised and accredited laboratory.  We are growing industry scientific knowledge on bee welfare, Mānuka trees and the many benefits of Mānuka honey and propolis.  We have pledged to be carbon neutral by 2025 and carbon positive by 2030, and we are planting 1-2million native trees every year. Comvita has operations in Australia, China, North America, South East Asia, and Europe – and of course, Aotearoa New Zealand, where our bees are thriving.

Background Information on B Corp™:

We began in 2006 with the idea that a different kind of economy was not only possible, but necessary — and that business could lead the way towards a new, stakeholder-driven model. B Lab became known for certifying B Corporations, which are companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. But we do much more than that. We’re building the B Corp movement to change our economic system — and to do so, we must change the rules of the game. B Lab creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift the behavior, culture, and structural underpinnings of capitalism. We mobilize the B Corp community towards collective action to address society’s most critical challenges. By harnessing the power of business, B Lab positively impacts companies around the world, helping them balance profit with purpose. Together, we are shifting our global economy from a system that profits few to one that benefits all: advancing a new model that moves from concentrating wealth and power to ensuring equity, from extraction to generation, and from prioritizing individualism to embracing interdependence.

Comvita achieve B Corp certification

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