“If you can dream it, you can do it!” Behind these words that we owe to Walt Disney, Mickey's dad, hides a beautiful reality. Each initiative is the fruit of a dream made possible. At Oé, we dream of a world in harmony with its environment where we consume less and better . To make this dream achievable and add our stone to the building, we give ourselves the mission of promoting sustainable viticulture and responsible consumption . And as we want to improve every day in our commitments, the B Corp label sounded obvious to us. This year, we celebrate the four years of our certification, the opportunity to open a good bottle of Crémant to celebrate! As we like to cultivate our community, we explain to you what our certification implies and how it helps us to go as far as possible in our approach. Let's go !
The B Corp Label
B Corp is short for Benefit Corporation . It is also called B Corporation or B Lab . A company that makes profits, so far nothing surprising. Except that a company labeled B Corp is much more than that. When we talk about profit, or benefit if we want to pronounce it in English, we are talking about the interests that the company brings to society and the planet. The B Corp label certifies that a company is created for the common good. It's beautiful, isn't it?
A year ago, we were 2,500 labeled companies in more than 77 countries. Today, we are more than 4000 including 145 in France and the number continues to increase. 4000 companies is not nothing. We're even willing to bet you know some. If you are told Patagonia, Bjorg Bonneterre , Ulule or Innocent , that speaks to you, doesn't it? And here, we mention the most famous! There are still many others: Nature et Découvertes , Big Mamma, Reforest'Action , Lemon Tri … We are proud to see that we belong to a strong and committed movement that is gaining more and more followers.
When you are B Corp certified , you take into account the commitments and the environment as much as the orders you place on the site. Fx and Thomas, our two co-founders often tell us: we don't seek to be the best in the world, we want to be the best for the world. And that changes everything.
How to get a B Corp label
To be labeled B Corp , you must answer a series of 200 questions on different topics:
- The mission and ethics of the company and its transparency with its customers and employees,
- The social and professional well-being of its employees,
- The social and economic contribution to its community,
- Actions taken for the environment and biodiversity,
- The creation of values for its customers or consumers.
To be certified, a company must obtain a score above 80 points . It is a very demanding label because you have to show your improvements every 3 years to keep it. And this is where the label finds all its interest: pushing companies to always do better and to progress. Do you want to try the B Corp adventure with your company? We encourage you and we show you the way here !
Why be labeled B Corp
There are many good reasons for a company to become a B Corp. Some seek to assess and improve their environmental impact , others get involved to inspire their community or simply be part of a positive movement for society. On our side, we wanted to have a road guide that shows us the way forward and that boosts us to always do more and fully live this adventure. With the B Corp label , we give meaning to our actions in order to flourish in our missions.
Our history with the B Corp label
Our first labeling dates back to 2017. At the time, we were still called PinotBleu and we were already keen to move the lines to do good through good. A year after our creation, we received our certification with 82 points. What pride! We have implemented many initiatives and in 2020, we were happy to announce that we were recertified again for three years with 97.9 points . A nice progress which is the fruit of all our actions in recent years . And yes, B Corp is the lifeblood that makes us grow on the path to a better world.
Our actions to do good with good
We have implemented many actions for the environment, within the team and the company to carry out our mission. We tell you more right here!
Our actions within the team
In the team, each person shares the same values and commitments for the planet. Everyone at their level does their best to move the lines. From sorting and composting , to responsible and local consumption or made in France , to our energy suppliers and bank accounts, we all try to do the best we can and spread the message around us.
We also know that good cohesion allows us to go further together. We meet every noon for lunch, we have a team evening every first Monday of the month, and we go to the winegrowers every year to do the harvest . We appreciate all these small and big moments of sharing that unite us around the same goal.
Our actions for the environment
We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint as much as possible. We obviously sort and recycle on our premises and we use compost for our waste. We have chosen to supply our premises with green energy thanks to Enercoop , we are moving towards carbon neutrality and we are offsetting our greenhouse gas emissions.
To help our winegrowers promote biodiversity in their plots, we have created the Oé Program for Biodiversity . We donate 1% of our turnover to support the initiatives of our winegrowers. Recently we set up a crowdfunding campaign to help Franck and Véronique, our winegrowers in Pujols, to plant hedges and a line of agroforestry in their vineyards with the help of ÉcoFarms and the MiiMOSA platform .
Want to know more about our campaign? It's this way !
The Oé experience
We are committed to making good, organic wines that are good for you and for the planet. Our organic wines are pesticide-free and our doses of copper and sulfur are below the doses usually used in conventional viticulture .
Our bottles are also designed to be respectful of the planet. They come as much as possible from deposits and reuse. No mixed plastic, glue and aluminum caps are used on our bottles. Our cork stoppers come from an FSC-certified forest in Portugal. The FSC label guarantees sustainable forest management and ensures that each cut tree is replanted. Our boxes are also 100% recycled and recyclable.
In 2020, we launched a new initiative: having zero waste logistics ! Concretely, we limit our use of tape and plastic, we now receive some of our bottles in wooden crates and paloxes . Thanks to this initiative, we have reduced our waste production by almost 50%. We dreamed of it and we did it! We use ecological alternatives for the packaging and delivery of our organic wines such as kraft tape , recycled paper labels . Thanks to Rebooteille , we deliver grocery stores and partner restaurants in Lyon in reusable lockers. No more single-use boxes! And for individuals from Lyon, we deliver our parcels by bike with our Fends la Bise partners ! We are working on many other ideas, if you have any to prompt us, see you on Instagram on our permanent Supply 0 waste story.
2020 was also the year when we became a company with a mission to include our environmental objectives in the company's statutes. This new status comes in addition to our B Corp certification . With him, we give ourselves a horizon, a line of sight, a compass to guide us if you prefer.
Do you want to know more about our mission-driven company status? It's this way !
We are gradually moving towards a better world with small and big ideas. We move forward with B Corp and we drink good committed wine , from the bottom to the cork. Whether rosé , red or white !
