Climate Change Risks and Opportunities for B Corporations in Latin America

 

While many private companies have made strides in building their own resilience against climate change, they have been less engaged in building climate-resilient communities. However, there is growing movement composed of a new type of company, known as a social enterprise or hybrid company, such as the B Corporations (Empresas B in Latin America) that are committed to fostering environmental sustainability or to creating public goods by leveraging the power of the private sector. Also known as sustainable venturing, this movement aims to harness the innovative power of entrepreneurship as a transformative mechanism to achieve the dual goals of development and environmental sustainability. Latin America is witnessing the emergence of a significant number of such enterprises, making the continent the fastest growing B Corp region in the world with about 200 certified companies across 9 countries. B Corps are offering alternative energy and water solutions, and promoting cultural change towards sustainable production and consumption, including healthier mass consumption products such as food, cleaning products, and cosmetics. Although these companies individually plan to reduce their carbon footprint through their own activities, little is known as to how these new actors could seize opportunities around climate change adaptation and mitigation to foster a low carbon economy at a larger scale. The main goal of this project is to generate knowledge at the intersection of climate change adaptation and mitigation, focusing on the co-benefits of trying to address both challenges simultaneously, and to better understand sustainable venturing in Latin America.