What sustainability means to Metta
Reflections on 2021 and looking forward to 2022.
tl;dr — In 2021, a year that saw the Metta team grow by nearly 200%, we solidified our Purpose and Values, published 10 sustainability-focused podcast episodes, delivered a sustainability-focused accelerator programme, started our journey to becoming a B Corp, committed to Net Zero with Tech Zero and SME Climate Hub and were successful in getting our PlanetMark certification. Phew! What a year!
Amidst the uncertainty of 2021, here at Metta we also had to roll with the punches. All in all, we had a very successful year and are looking forward to building on that momentum in 2022. Before we get stuck into the huge milestones we face this year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our biggest year yet.
Joining an Impact-Driven Team
I joined Metta midway through 2021 because I wanted to make an impact — on a global scale . After meeting the team I knew that I was joining a group of purpose-driven optimists and environmentalists. Due to the programmes we deliver and the businesses we work with, our potential impact is exponential!
Through our support of startups and corporations across multiple industries, we are helping them to reduce their environmental impact, drive social change and influence new policies. I see each new cohort and programme as a snowball. We start the change with the first few snowflakes, and they keep it rolling and growing. I love snow.
Striving to make a positive impact is in our business’s DNA — and in 2021 we decided it was necessary to formalise that. We went through an extensive exercise of brainstorming what Metta’s purpose and mission is.
Defining our Purpose
We knew inherently that sustainability was core to everything we do and that the success of our startups during and after each accelerator programme was what made us tick. However, articulating that proved trickier than we thought. After many virtual conversations, a day-long workshop and some serious finessing, we landed on our purpose:
To ingrain regeneration and sustainability into all innovation to drive positive, long-term impact.
To us, to get to a world that we want to sustain, we need to enable thinking and innovation that helps to bring the world back to a state which is healthier and more viable for the future. We must also be cognisant of and reduce our business’ impact on the planet. It’s because of this that we always couple sustainability with regeneration. Further to our environmental goals, we’ve also set out some social impact ones.
- We need to act in the interests of the collective, rather than the individual, by innovating to equally meet the current and future needs of all within the means of the planetary boundaries.
- We will challenge the cult of competitive individualism by educating the masses and improving accessibility to transformative innovation.
- We will empower diversity in thinking and innovation through our programmes. We don’t see tech as the be-all-end-all fix to our problems.
- We will change the narrative. We won’t empower anyone who’s innovation will exploit nature for our benefit.
We’re in a fortunate position being in tech, fully remote and in an area that is ever growing. As such, we’re also conscious of our duty of care to our community and environment. We don’t want to just “talk the talk”. It’s all well and good to call yourself purpose-driven and have a glossy set of values down on paper, but we set these goals for ourselves to ensure that we both live true to these values and our mission.
So how do we get to where we want to be and make that lasting impact? One thing we all agree on is that becoming a certified B Corp is the way. It is the conduit for change and joining that community and movement is how we will continue to make a difference for the long term.
Becoming a B Corp
B Corp? What’s that? For those who don’t know, becoming a B Corp is “a comprehensive and rigorous process” (i.e. not a walk in the park!) and for good reason.
To become a B Corp, businesses need to complete and score 80 points in the nearly 200 question B Impact Assessment (BIA). To do this, the BIA is divided into impact areas and has questions centred around the environment, your supply chain, employee satisfaction and community.
“B Corp Certification is unique because it measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. From supply chain and input materials to charitable giving and employee benefits, B Corp Certification verifies that a business is meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.”
Oh, and this certification is legally binding. As a small company with big ambitions, the BIA gives us the framework we need to take our ethos and put it into action.
We are currently in the process of working through the BIA and key to that is implementing company processes like supplier surveys, better onboarding, a DE&I policy, code of ethics, whistleblower and anti-harassment policies, an employee handbook and (of course) measuring and reporting on our environmental impact.
Achieving PlanetMark Certification
To assist us in measuring, validating, reporting, reducing and offsetting our emissions and to help us reach Net Zero, we decided to pursue our PlanetMark certification. I’m pleased to share that in one of our last feats of 2021, we secured it! We now have a detailed breakdown of Metta’s emissions and are working on our plan to reduce, improve and offset everything.
A Commitment to Net Zero
Further to our PlanetMark certification and pursuing B Corp certification, we have committed to Net Zero by 2030 with Tech Zero (an official partner to the UN Race to Zero) as well as with SME Climate Hub. We are actively tracking and monitoring progress on all of our commitments, some of which are to:
“Measure all our global organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions, including scope 3, and report them publicly each year, publish details about how we plan to reach net zero, communicate our climate commitments in other meaningful ways, report our progress on short and medium term targets.”
We’re just starting on this journey and we have already made significant progress.
Everyone in Metta works from home at the moment, but we’ve all moved to renewable energy, and most of our pensions have been moved to sustainable portfolios — away from oil and gas — thanks to PensionBee.
Last year we also published a new podcast focussing on sustainability in order to educate more people, linking back to our mission.
Remember the snowball? The entirety of our curriculum for each accelerator we design and deliver has a thread of sustainability, ecosystem improvement, diversity, equality and inclusive accessibility, or transformative innovation running through it all.
At Metta, we facilitate transformative innovation as a force for good with startups, industry, governments and businesses through education, collaboration, challenging and changing the narrative.
To us, sustainability and regeneration means radical systemic change, protection for tomorrow, and knowledge for all.
Last year we set ourselves up, but 2022 is the year we knock it out of the park.
For more information about Metta and the work we do, head to our website. Check out our podcast Metta Talks to hear the latest about startups, innovation, and sustainability. The team is also on Twitter — reach out to us @mettatalks.
Want to learn more about Metta? Let’s talk 🗣
Heather Baden — heather@metta.partners | linkedin.com/in/heatherbaden
