Business Working Responsibly Mark
The Business Working Responsible Mark (“The Mark”) is Ireland’s Environmental, Economic, 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 rigorous audit-based process that embeds a strategic management system which comprises of a suite of indicators straddling all four pillars of EESG. Within each indicator, companies demonstrate their performance using both an environmental and social lens.
The Mark fosters excellence in sustainability by establishing and continually improving the management system. This is a key differentiator between the Mark certification and reporting frameworks such as CSRD or GRI. While much of the content aligns with these frameworks, the Mark 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 and a movement for change in Ireland.
The management system is founded on good governance upheld through the company’s management and decision-making structures, values, and stakeholder engagement approach in support of its purpose and strategy. Internal organisational collaboration is key to achieving The Mark and is often cited by business leaders as a key benefit of the process.
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 supply 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.
A movement for change
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 eligible to join 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
As a member of a collective scheme, each Mark-certified organisation is required to abide by a number of terms and conditions in order to retain their membership. One of the conditions is to undergo an annual review. Based on the results of their prior certification and a number of other factors, BITCI follow an audit-based approach to assess ongoing compliance and conformity to the Standard.
Check out which companies are certified with the Business Working Responsibly Mark
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