Havas New York earned its B Corp certification in October 2021.
Havas’ lucrative win of Shell’s media business is causing a stir in the industry over whether an agency company that represents a fossil fuel giant can maintain B Corp status.
Four Havas subsidiaries are B Corp certified, a certification from B Lab meant to recognize corporations that prioritize people, communities and the planet in addition to profit.
The certification can take years to complete and involves a company taking the B Impact Assessment, which asks 200 questions about how a company operates in regards to its stakeholders, including customers, workers, suppliers, communities, investors and the environment.
Havas New York, one of the four certified offices, achieved its B Corp certification in October 2021, with a score of 87.2 out of a possible 200. A company needs to achieve 80 out of 200 to pass the certification.
When Shell announced the review of its media account, it set off a storm of criticism from climate activist groups including Clean Creatives and Extinction Rebellion, which protested outside of agencies reported to be pitching. When it was announced that Havas Media won the account last week, the protests sharpened their focus.
Havas is already seeing repercussions from the decision. Havas Red, Havas Media’s sister PR agency, was reportedly dropped from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative over Havas’ work with the oil giant.
Complaints have been filed with B Lab to strip Havas of its certifications.
Duncan Meisel, executive director of Clean Creatives, said working with fossil fuel companies is incompatible with B Corp brand values and there is “a very good chance” that the Havas agencies will lose their B Corp certification over the Shell business.
“Havas Media is not a B Corp, but Havas offices that are B Corp will have to work on this contract because of the way the company is structured, and you are not pursuing B Corp’s goals of creating a better business environment for the planet by working with Shell,” Meisel said. “I feel terrible for the people that have done that work and have been betrayed by this decision that was out of their hands.”
WPP’s GroupM previously held the account. WPP is not B Corp certified.
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“Our level of commitment towards sustainability at Havas remains unchanged. We greatly value and respect B-Lab and the rigorous B-Corp process,” Havas said in a statement. “Havas’ creative agencies, including Havas New York, Havas London, Havas Lemz [Amsterdam] and Havas Immerse [Kulala Lumpur, Malaysia] that currently hold B-Corp certification, remain committed to their sustainability goals, alongside all our other agencies around the world. They welcome the opportunity to dialogue with B-Lab.”
A spokesperson from B Lab said the organization is reviewing Havas’ relationship to Shell as part of B Lab’s Public Complaint Process, including requesting internal documents from Havas. Reviewing is the first step in the process to decide whether a formal investigation is warranted and typically ends within 90 days of a complaint being filed.
“We want to stress that we’re committed to following due process, which means that we’re not always able to come to a decision when many would like us to,” B Lab said in a statement addressed to all inquirers. “We ask for your patience during this time, and hope you can respect the established procedures we have in place.”
As Ad Age reported in June, the B Corp certification is not a moral compass but a business framework. The scoring rubric allows companies to receive high scores in certain areas and low scores in others while still gaining certification, according to Jessica Thomas, director of the Business Sustainability Collaborative at North Carolina State University.
“Right now, companies can take any path to 80 and become certified,” Thomas previously said. “They could theoretically focus on three areas of the assessment—say workers, customers and the community—and really be doing nothing when it comes to the environment.”
The B Impact Assessment is changing in 2024 to address these loopholes. Companies will soon need to make demonstrable progress in 10 impact areas such as fighting climate change, taking action on issues related to paying a living wage or building a circular economy into their business model.
A group of agencies that are B Corp certified have signed a Clean Creatives pledge not to work with fossil fuel companies and sent a letter to B Corp Europe with the hope of adding the pledge to B Corp’s assessment criteria. Clean Creatives’ Meisel said he hopes to see a harder stance from B Lab on fossil fuel clients.
“That’s hopefully where they make it clear that providing marketing services to a fossil fuel company disqualifies you from B Corp consideration,” he said.
