Lloydsdirect gains sustainability certification for 'goals outside of profit'
LloydsPharmacy’s prescription app has achieved B Corporation (B Corp) certification, granted to businesses demonstrating “rigorous” social and environmental standards, it has announced.
The LloydsPharmacy online prescription service this week (February 1) announced that it is now a certified B Corp, meaning it has been verified to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
The company achieved the certification “having met rigorous social and environmental standards representing its commitment to goals outside of profit”, it said.
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The certification is granted by B Lab, a non-profit association helping businesses to be “more ethical and sustainable”, and more than 1,000 UK businesses have so far been certified, it added.
To become a B Corp, businesses are assessed in the areas of governance, workers, community, environment and customers and must achieve a score of more than 80 out of 200.
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Lloydsdirect – which serves more than 600,000 people in England and dispenses around a million items a month – scored 85.4 after “showcasing its socially and environmentally responsible practices”, it said.
Growing sustainably
Lloydsdirect managing director Connie Cha said: “Our vision is a world where people are empowered to be healthier.
“To create such a world, we need to view health holistically and embrace initiatives such as the B Corp certification, which provides robust frameworks to help us achieve this.”
Lloydsdirect’s “goal” is to “grow sustainably while respecting people and the planet”, she added.
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The company now has “ambitious targets” for its “ethical business journey”, including “creating a healthier workplace” and making its handling of medical waste more sustainable, it said.
“Businesses are expected to move and grow fast, but our planet’s resources are finite,” said Lloydsdirect operations director Ana Ciubotaru.
The company is using the B Corp framework to help it “break down” the “big mission” of making “a positive difference” into “achievable tasks and take action”, she added.
Lloydsdirect is “working to reduce its impact on the planet with initiatives ranging from supporting forest-planting projects to using zero-waste paper tape”, it said.
