Welcome to the first of a series of light-touch looks at some of the transformative organisations in the B Corp community we now find ourselves in.
It’s teeming with organisations looking to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet — all in their own special way.
And we think sharing some of the kaleidoscopic nature of their purpose for a little inspiration is a healthy thing.
Squeaky Clean Energy
So, for our inaugural B Corp Buddy blog, we’ve chosen Squeaky Clean Energy Ltd.
Now energy is a very hot topic — and much like the climate, if what the scientists are telling us is true, getting hotter. Even a passing glance at the heavy mix of climate diplomacy, brinkmanship and double-dealing of COP 26, and the highly compromised nature of some of the agreement principles is confusing enough. Yes, some countries, like the UK, have set out a landmark and, more importantly, achievable Net Zero strategies. Regardless, Climate and Energy provision within a Net Zero world is a geopolitical vipers nest at the best of times. And the recommendations and guidance that fall out of it are a hydra of multiple organisations pushing their version of the agenda.
Go deeper and take a longer harder look at energy mixes themselves and it only gets more complicated. You can get lost in the labyrinth of it all. And there’s a lot of grey in between the green and blue energies on one side and the slightly murkier brown energies on the other.
There are also several conflicting stories about the integrity of many climate claims. But the investment community seem undeterred. In Europe alone, a recent EFAMA report found that:
Net sales of European ESG funds increased almost exponentially in 2019 and 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exponential increases in Capital flows towards ESG funds and climate and Green Tech may well show that ‘the Global money’ has made its mind up and chosen a side. But it doesn’t make steering a path towards the best energy plan any simpler.
So an energy company with a simple clear mandate to allow you to avoid the messiness and complexities is exactly what we think the world needs.
Cue Squeaky Clean
There are clean renewables – and then there’s 100% clean. And Squeaky Clean is making a business out of being 100% purists with theirs.
Many energy companies, and indeed governments, include burning biomass in their definitions of ‘renewable’; a practice which is extremely harmful to the environment.
But Squeaky have chosen to stay true to its name and draw its energy mix exclusively from fully renewable sources. Squeaky only help its clients to buy 100% clean energy from UK-based solar, wind and hydro generators using a unique combination of expertise, software and contracts.
Or to put it in Squeaky Clean language:
We only provide electricity that has been generated by the force of the wind, the power of water and the rays of the sun.
There is a simple almost naive clarity to their proposition — and it is all the more brilliant for that. The influence communities from the worlds of Climate Sustainability and Social Impact have a tendency to speak in riddles and puzzles as far as ordinary people are concerned.
There are a number of organisations out there that don’t need a dissertation on complex geo Energy plays. They need a smart simple and trustworthy provider to sort out the best plan for them.
One thing is for certain — Squeaky are on a mission. They’re on a mission to accelerate the world’s transition to clean energy.
A Squeaky Clean future
At WFI we like that “transition” word — because it’s realistic and pragmatic.
And these feel like the kind of people who will do just that. They were the people behind Europe’s first corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) back in 2008 so they’ve got the chops!
Although we might like to just consciously snap our collective fingers and suddenly the world be all 100% clean and serene energy, it’s just not going to happen. So people who understand a transition strategy and their role in it? Hallelujah.
It is, in some ways, similar to the world of work in which we, Work For Impact, find ourselves. There are many futurists telling us what the future of work is going to look like or what it could or should be. But this won’t happen overnight (obviously being the future and all that!).
Contemplating abstract futures is all well and good but For-purpose and mission-led oganisations need like-minded and values-aligned talent that works for them right now. Talent is the engine room of any and every organisation – and it is critical that the talent mix is calibrated and maintained correctly and sustainably so – starting today.
So for us, the future is more a collection of Successive working Nows! And we’ve designed our more Dynamic, more Impactful, and more Ethical Talent3 proposition on that basis.
So it goes with an energy transition strategy.
And Squeaky seem the right partner to help conscious organisations and ESG-aligned businesses find a power policy and purchasing plan that is fit for purpose, people, and planet.
We’ll raise a glass of something clean and renewable to that.
B Corp
Work For Impact achieve B Corp certification in late 2021 making us the world’s first B Corp certified, purpose-powered On-Demand Talent platform.