La Marzocco says it is the first espresso machine manufacturer in the world to gain B Corp certification, having gained it with a score of 84.41.
Certified B Corps are companies that meet B Lab’s standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. At the time of writing, there are more than 10,000 companies around the world that are B Corp certified.
CEO of La Marzocco, Lorenzo Carboni, says joining the worldwide community of certified B Corps is the latest step in the company’s overall ethics and sustainability goals.
“We have always pursued excellence, and the B Corp framework is the environment in which we want to operate,” he says.
“Our commitment across the five Impact Areas of the Standard reflects the interdependence between our technology, people, and the environment.”
In addition to achieving the certification, La Marzocco has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire value chain by 2050.
“The pursuit of environmental protection – integrated with the concepts of sustainability and circularity, without compromising on high levels of performance – is a non-negotiable objective when designing our equipment, ensuring its durability and repeatability,” says Lorenzo.
“We are a company built on relationships: the well-being, safety, and growth of people guide our strategic decisions. Every day, we work to extend these same values to all our stakeholders, supporting specialty coffee culture and contributing actively to its growth and dissemination.
“Our ability to generate a positive impact on the community is the true measure of our success, while revenue is one of the tools that allows us to continue pursuing this objective.”
To become B Corp certified, companies must complete the B Impact Assessment, a third-party verification audit to meet a minimum score of 80.
Recertification requires companies to showcase continuous improvement in the sustainability space, with assessments every three years.
B Corp certification is far from a new concept in the coffee industry, with Nomad Coffee Group recently announcing itself as a founding member of the B Corp Coffee Coalition, the inaugural group of which contains seven organisations from around the world.
Founded in Florence in 1927, La Marzocco currently operates out of a net-zero solar facility in the city. It opened its first Australian branch in Melbourne in 2014.
