October was a big month for Hive. Not only did we celebrate our 2nd birthday and become a B Corp (yay!), we were also invited to speak at the Sustainable Brands '22 Conference about our favorite topic, regenerative agriculture!
Sustainable Brands is a global community of businesses working together to tackle social and environmental challenges. This year’s SB '22 conference brought together leaders from across the sustainability space to recenter and accelerate business practices that prioritize inclusion, collaboration, and regeneration. Alongside our partner HowGood, Hive was honored to join a panel on retailers’ responsibility for championing regenerative food systems (exhibit A: our Regenerative Shop).
What does it mean to be a sustainable brand today?
SB '22 taught us there are a million and one ways to do business more sustainably, from sourcing biodiverse ingredients to designing food waste-conscious kitchens to making meat out of air. There are also a few common principles sustainable brands follow:
- Make your impact net positive: It’s not enough to “do no harm” anymore. Brands are going beyond mitigating their negative sustainability impacts and instead recognizing their potential to create positive change for people and the planet. This includes supporting regenerative agricultural practices, improving human rights standards, and offsetting more carbon than is emitted.
- Develop circularity: Humans collectively produce 2 billion tons of trash every year, and brands are increasingly holding themselves accountable for their contribution to the problem. Using recycled packaging materials, creating upcycled products, and partnering with waste management organizations are a few of the ways brands are prioritizing a more circular economy.
- Improve diversity, equity, and inclusion: The people affected most by environmental issues (BI&POC, women, younger generations) still don’t have adequate seats at the decision-making table. Sessions like the Women’s Leadership Lunch and Emerging Leaders in Sustainability brought up this uncomfortable reality, but they also offered a variety of solutions, including fair labor compensation and equitable access to funding.
Our biggest takeaway from SB '22 is that we’re a lot closer to reaching sustainability goals when we all work together. So thank YOU for supporting regenerative food systems. We can’t do this without you.