Business Working Responsibly Mark
The Business Working Responsibly Mark (“The Mark”) is Ireland’s Economic, Environmental, Social and Governance (EESG) standard. Third-party verified by the National Standards Authority of Ireland, it is the standard for sustainability that fosters a culture of continuous improvement, ongoing accountability, and leadership. Companies have been certifying to The Mark since 2010 in a desire to go beyond legal compliance and demonstrate leadership in sustainability.
Achieving The Mark
To achieve The Mark, companies go through a guided audit process that combines an initial gap analysis with coaching and advisory services. This process not only ensures audit readiness but also promotes continuous improvement and a deeper embedding of sustainability across the business. An Independent, third-party audit is then carried out by the National Standards Authority of Ireland.
The Mark is an assessment of a company’s management systems across a suite of 15 topics spanning all four pillars of EESG (download an excerpt below). Within each topic, companies demonstrate their performance through an ethical, environmental, and social lens. The Mark fosters excellence in sustainability by establishing and continually improving the management system.
While much of the content aligns with existing frameworks, the Mark goes beyond compliance, and ensures that certified companies are continually improving and strengthening their positive impact on both society and the environment. This is what makes Mark certified companies stand out as leaders in responsible business.
The four pillars are as follows:
Economic: capturing the company’s approach to creating a positive and sustainable economic impact on the local community, society, and the environment by responsibly managing its value chain.
Environmental: capturing the company’s responsibility in managing its total environmental footprint across its operations and supply chain.
Social: capturing the company’s approach to engaging with and addressing the needs of key social stakeholders including local communities, colleagues, suppliers, representative bodies and greater society.
Governance: assessing the structures that provide the foundations for economic, environmental and social pillars through purpose, governing body oversight, stakeholder engagement and decision-making structures.
The Responsible Business Association
Companies with The Mark are representative of Ireland’s most mature, ambitious and innovative organisations, focused on meeting and delivering the transformation needed to address the sustainability challenge. These companies are part of the Responsible Business Association, a collective movement for change, focusing on leadership, knowledge sharing and support to the wider business eco-system in achieving sustainable impact.
Ongoing Compliance
The Mark is a three-year certification, and companies are required to recertify in year three to maintain certification. In years one and two of certification, companies must complete an annual review.
Download an Excerpt from the Governance Pillar of the Mark Standard
Check out which companies are certified with the Business Working Responsibly Mark
Download an Excerpt from the Social Pillar of the Mark Standard
Find out the value of The Business Working Responsibly Mark to certified companies
Certified companies become members of the Responsible Business Association
"The Business Working Responsibly Mark is a testament to the collective effort of our team at Calor towards building a sustainable future. Achieving this reaccreditation validates our ongoing commitment to economic, environmental and social responsibility and underscores the integral role that sustainability plays in shaping our business strategy. We believe that by embracing the principles of the Business Working Responsibly Mark, we not only strengthen our reputation as a responsible business but also create long-term value for our employees, customers, suppliers, the environment and rural communities across Ireland."
Find out more about the Business Working Responsibly Mark, contact Lis Dare
ldare@bitc.ie