Welcome to your roundup – a monthly selection of news hand-picked to keep you up to date with what’s going on for businesses wanting to create positive impact.
In this roundup you can find out what’s new in the B Corp, social enterprise, and impact investing spaces, amongst others, collated under helpful headings. We’ll also share links to resources and information that our expert lawyers have selected as being useful to you and your networks.
Jump to:
Corporate purpose
Blueprint for Better Business and Jericho Chambers have launched The Future of Purpose-Led Business initiative, which aims to explore how purpose-driven business practices are evolving in the UK and beyond (press release). The initiative reports on a recent informal roundtable that covered a range of themes, including purpose-driven business in the context of changing political priorities, the need for more collaboration between businesses, and concerns over ‘purpose-washing’.
Bates Wells hosted the first event held by the ‘Transition Lobby’ on 25 February 2025. The group is part of the business arm of the Climate Majority Project and has an aim of bringing businesses together with NGOs and policy leaders to explore how to take action on the climate emergency. The second workshop-style event will take place on 26 March. Contact Helena Farstad if you’d like to find out more.
New company guide empowers UK company directors to embed sustainability information in financial reporting. Bates Wells has contributed to a new guide, Are Your Financial Statements True and Fair?, published by the True & Fair Project, which is hosted by Social Value International. The guidance underscores directors’ legal obligation to consider sustainability when preparing financial statements, and offers practical steps to support compliance. It specifically addresses the challenges of climate change and transitioning to a low-carbon economy.
A good news story for UK mutuality. Coop News provides commentary on the acquisition by B Corp Coventry Building Society of The Co-operative Bank, which brings the bank back into mutual ownership and provides an example of recent acquisition activity in the purpose-driven business space.
ReGenerate, the purposeful business charity, has launched a new report, Unlocking Apprenticeships for Marginalised Talent, which sets out key barriers to employers maximising apprenticeships for marginalised groups and ideas on how the government could provide support. The report was written with input from 25 businesses and includes case studies from John Lewis, COOK and Timpson.
B Corps
B Lab UK has launched a new 5-year strategy that includes key strategic objectives as well as 10 and 15-year goals, expressing the national and global vision for the B Corp movement. B Lab UK Executive Director Chris Turner comments on the development of the strategy and the context for its launch.
Bates Wells will be attending the Edie Awards on 13 March and we are delighted to have been shortlisted for the ‘B Corp of the Year’ award, a new category this year. Bates Wells’ Oliver Scutt and Smruti Jeyanandhan will be there so, if you’ll be joining, say hello!
The EU Omnibus and ESRS: Protecting Double Materiality and Impact Management Logic. B Lab, Social Value International and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment have written an open letter to the European Commission advocating for the protection of key principles underpinning the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), including double materiality, in light of the EU’s plans to simplify sustainability regulations through an ‘omnibus’ reform package.
Changes for Large Companies Looking To Get B Corp Certification. B Lab announced that it is not accepting new applications under the current Large Enterprise or MNC B Corp certification approach until further notice. This is intended to prevent companies from undergoing pre-verification processes based on the current certification standards, which will soon be replaced by the new standards for B Corp certification.
Climate & biodiversity
A new report produced by CBI Economics and commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit considers the contributions of net zero to the UK economy (CBI Economics’ press release). Among other findings, the report states that the sector grew 10.1% in 2023-2024 and now generates £83.1bn in Gross Value Added, and that every £1 of value from the net zero economy creates £1.89 in the wider economy. The report also notes that the net zero economy has a strong presence across the country, including outside of traditional economic hubs in the South East, and net zero businesses attracted £23bn in funding in 2023-2024.
Bates Wells’ Lawrence Simanowitz and colleagues consider what’s next for UK environmental protection, following the adjournment of the Climate and Nature Bill and recent Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) findings that the government has substantial challenges to achieving its statutory environmental targets. As well as exploring the OEP’s recommendations, we note several current policy and regulatory developments, including the government’s completed rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan and the new Water (Special Measures) Act.
The Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has launched a new capacity-building platform to help scale market confidence and capabilities on nature-related issues and applying the TNFD framework. The new Learning Lab aims to provide self-guided learning materials, and the Trainer Portal is designed to be used by training and education service providers.
The Make My Money Matter campaign, co-founded by director Richard Curtis, has published its second Climate Action Report, which provides analysis of leading UK pension providers’ action on climate change (access the full analysis by Profundo). Among other findings, the report notes that the total carbon emissions associated with UK pensions is 330 million tonnes annually, with £88bn of UK pension savers’ money invested in fossil fuels. Alongside recommendations for the industry and government, the campaign calls on employers to engage with their pension providers and take steps to move to a greener provider if not satisfied with their climate action. Make My Money Matter recently announced that it will be closing, after 5 years of campaigning.
Sky News reports on an initial hearing at the High Court regarding Shell’s potential liability for oil spills in Nigeria. The long-running litigation matter relates to environmental damage to the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger Delta. The hearing precedes a full trial of the case expected next year. Shell argues that its is not responsible for pollution caused by oil stolen from its infrastructure and illegal refining. The case is described as the first to test the liability of a UK multinational for a breach of a community’s human rights due to environmental pollution.
Impact investing
Better Society Capital (BSC) has published its 2024 Impact Report. Among other highlights noted, the report states that BSC committed £68m to tackling social issues and inequalities in the UK in 2024 and enabled 50 new co-investors to commit a further £400m, has helped to grow the social impact investing market in the UK by 12x to date, and launched its second Impact VC playbook to support founders, focusing on impact practice at the venture level (press release). The report outlines BSC’s assessment of its work in the areas of Impact Ventures, Social Lending, Social Outcomes Contracts and Social Property, and sets out learning points for the organisation to take forward.
HM Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced the establishment of a new Social Impact Investment Advisory Group, which aims to “provide recommendations on ways to effectively mobilise social impact capital, including Impact Investment Vehicles, and will provide views on existing work across government on impact capital”. Better Society Capital’s CEO Stephen Muers joins the group alongside other sector experts (full list of members).
Unlocking LGPS capital – a new era for local impact investment. Anna Shiel, Chief Investment Officer at Better Society Capital, writes for Impact Investor to describe the opportunity available for Local Government Pension Schemes to meet their risk-return requirements through pursuing place-based impact investing. Shiel points to examples of place-based investment approaches and notes that LGPS funds are well-suited to advancing local investment strategies due to their decentralised structures and local decision-making authority. For more on this topic, Legal & General has raised £130m of new commitments to its Affordable Housing Fund, including £100m from London CIV, the investment pool for London LGPS, alongside Better Society Capital.
UK platform Ethex has announced £500k of new investment into furthering its mission to support community-focused investment. The funding came from an impact investment consortium, including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Friends Provident Foundation.
UK impact investor British International Investment recently announced three new investments in emerging markets, including teaming up with Swedfund and Norfund to invest $85m in AgDevCo to support agribusinesses in Africa, investing $40.5m with Johnvents Group in improving sustainability and growth in Nigeria’s cocoa sector, and signing a $15m trade loan agreement with Sanima Bank to boost clean energy in Nepal, aimed at strengthening the bank’s trade finance offering with a focus on supporting hydropower development.
Social enterprise
Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) has published its response to the UK government’s new National Procurement Policy Statement. SEUK commends the statement’s recognition of the value of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and its greater consideration of purpose, use of profits, paying taxes and employment practices for public sector procurement.
In response to the announcement of the government’s new Social Impact Investment Advisory Group, Social Enterprise UK, Cwmpas, Social Enterprise Northern Ireland and Social Enterprise Scotland wrote an open letter to government noting a lack of social enterprise representation within the group, as a key recipient sector for social impact investment.
Unlocking Revenue Models for Social Enterprises. Access, the Foundation for Social Investment, outlines learnings from its Enterprise Development Programme, which aims to “provide a broad range of support for charities and social enterprises in England, helping them become more financially resilient by developing new enterprise models, or by growing existing ones”. Key findings included that a variety of revenue models were adopted across different sectors, as well as challenges, such as a lack of confidence in financial literacy and difficulty in tracking long-term revenue records given that many participants were still developing their enterprise models. Access has also published six sector-specific analysis reports (on black and minoritised communities, environment, equality, homelessness, mental health and youth).
ESG
Bates Wells will be hosting ‘The power of sustainable style: Women accelerating ESG action’ on 6 March to celebrate International Women’s Day. This will be an evening of talks from female leaders, to learn how sustainable fashion, purpose-driven leadership, and innovative business practices empower women to realise their ambitions and create lasting change in their personal and professional lives. We’ll be hearing from Fiona Hathorn, CEO & Founder, WB Directors/Women on Boards UK, Tiffanie Darke, Journalist and Author of ‘What to Wear And Why’ and CEO of Smart Works, Dr. Bernice Pan, Founder of DEPLOY and Editor of ‘Accelerating Sustainability in Fashion, Clothing & Textiles’, and Aisling Connaughton, Founder of Cyd Connects and B Lab Leader.
“Not just a number”: Tracking migrant worker abuse in global supply chains – 2025 Global Analysis. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has published data from its Migrant Worker Allegations Database, which monitors alleged human rights abuses of migrant workers in global supply chains, including 665 cases of alleged abuse of migrant workers in 2024. The top three sector value chains in which abuse was recorded were agri-food, construction and engineering, and manufacturing, and this was linked to 498 named companies including multinational buyers at the top of global supply chains. The report states that under-reporting, opaque supply chains and fear of retaliation may hamper accountability efforts, but it outlines the nature and locations of the abuses documented and provides recommendations for businesses to help tackle migrant worker abuse in their supply cains. For more on supply chain management, Bates Wells has shared the recording of its #GoodBusinessFortnight Ethical sourcing and sustainable supply chains webinar.
Responsible investment charity ShareAction has published Voting Matters 2024, which analyses how asset managers have been using their proxy votes for action on environmental and social issues (press release). Among other findings, the report identifies a steep trend in asset managers rejecting shareholder resolutions that address social and/or environmental issues, with 1.4% of resolutions passed in 2024 (of a sample of 279) from a high of 21% in 2021. The report notes the outsized influence of just the world’s four largest asset managers, stated to be managing a combined US$23trn in assets, and finds that asset managers’ stated reasons for rejecting such resolutions do not stack up against the realities of current global social and environmental crises. Among other points, the report questions whether asset managers’ lack of support for such resolutions is always in the interests of asset owners and sets out recommendations for asset owners, asset managers and policy makers.
The ACCA has published a downloadable guide, Sustainability Reporting: Risk and Materiality, which provides illustrative, anonymised case studies to help businesses, including SMEs, to learn, adapt and improve their capacity to identify and report on risks and opportunities arising from sustainability factors. The guide particularly focuses on climate-related risks, given the potential severity of the impacts of adverse weather events on business. The guidance includes recommendations around allocating resources to identifying sustainability risks and opportunities arising from the resources and relationships in value chains, and identifying and collating material sustainability-related information.
Want to receive the roundup?
To receive the monthly roundup direct to your inbox, sign up here.
Our team of expert lawyers can walk you through small and efficient steps to ensure your goals are achieved and that embedding Purpose & Impact into your business aligns directly with your strategy, creating a ripple effect of positive impact throughout your organisation. View our Be a better business hub to learn more.