Impact Interviews CYC2: Advancing Sustainable Change Through Data Solutions
CYC2 empowers organisations to manage their resources through smart energy and carbon data. Frédéric Witmeur shares how B Corp certification strengthened their impact.
Why did your company decide to aim for B Corp certification, and what motivated this commitment to social and environmental responsibility in your sector?
Obtaining B Corp certification was a straightforward process, as it is fully in line with CYC2’s mission to help organisations better control their consumption. CYC2 stands for Control Your Consumption & Cost.
What were the main challenges faced by your company during the B Corp certification process, and how did you overcome them?
CYC2 is a small organisation, which means that we don’t have resources dedicated to this type of project. The effort required to obtain certification was added to our day-to-day work. As the company’s priority remains customer satisfaction and the search for new customers, we had to do something drastic and devote time to the B-Corp certification process, whatever it took.
What led you to call on the services of consultants as part of your journey towards B Corp certification, and how did their expertise contribute to the process?
The certification process is complex, and like any project, getting it right the first time is always much more difficult than the next. If you don’t know the ins and outs of the certification process, it’s essential to enlist the support of an experienced certification team. Their advice and recommendations are vital if you are to build a solid case for certification.
How has obtaining B Corp certification helped your company to achieve its sustainability and social impact objectives?
CYC2 has a consultancy activity; we are a small structure, we have almost no indirect emissions and we have no control over our direct emissions. However, the services we provide to our customers do have an impact in terms of sustainability and social impact. Having B Corp certification shows our customers and prospects that CYC2 walks the talk and that we are convinced that optimising the use of resources in organisations makes sense.
From your point of view, what was the most complex aspect of the certification process, and what lessons did your company learn from it?
It’s not so much the complexity that has to be overcome, but the quantity of documents, procedures, justifications and proof to be provided. Once again, as a small organisation, all these documents and procedures did not exist. We had to write them down, document them and proof that they were applied on a daily basis by the company.
What opportunities has B Corp certification opened for your company, in terms of growth, positioning or strengthening your sustainable practices?
Obtaining certification firstly gives us more direct access to the B Corp community, which comprises organisations that are by definition concerned with better control of the use of resources and sensitive to the issue of collecting data useful for new ESG reporting. We are convinced that a good energy transition cannot be achieved without good control of data collection.
Secondly, our Optytel and Carbolean services are solutions that meet the requirements of B Corp certification for measuring energy and water consumption.
In the future, how does your company plan to maintain the high standards defined by the B Corp certification, while continuing its social and environmental commitments?
First of all, we see B Corp certification not as an end in itself, but as a long-term goal that drives us to reinvent ourselves while remaining true to our values.
We have now integrated the B Corp principles into the heart of our corporate strategy and internal culture. In practical terms, this means:
- The introduction of non-financial performance indicators, which are regularly monitored and shared with stakeholders.
- The active commitment of our employees, who are made aware of and trained in environmental and social issues in order to act at their own level.
- Sustainable innovation: by designing services or products that enable our customers to visualise the impact of the decisions they make to reduce their emissions.
- And finally, transparency: by making our actions and results visible through external communications.
How does your company plan to get actively involved in the B Corp movement and work with other certified companies to promote sustainable practices and positive impact in your sector?
We believe that the transition to a fairer and more sustainable economic model can only be achieved through networking. We see the B Corp community as a real driver of innovation and collective transformation, with which we are keen to build lasting synergies. In concrete terms, we are going to try to participate actively in the events, workshops and working groups organised by the B Corp community and make our skills and expertise available to support initiatives led by other companies committed to the transition towards a fairer and more sustainable world.
Interview of Frédéric Witmeur, Managing Director at CYC2.
