One of our supporters wants to know: Why do you use the same criteria for companies of all sizes?

Shouldn't your criteria be more challenging for big companies and easier for small ones?

Yes, there is a difference in resources and expertise across different sizes of companies.

But at this point, we don't need more companies that prioritize profit over people and planet.

Also, small companies have the opportunity to adopt these policies and practices from the start - when they are be created.

Which is much easier than trying to retrofit them onto an existing company of any size.

So we're okay with holding all companies to the same standards. We believe the kinds of things we evaluate should be table stakes for all businesses.

Not just the big ones or the ones that will be the big ones tomorrow.

We do try to provide some helpful context in our evaluations for smaller companies.

This means that while we don't change our criteria or water down our standards, we do try to clearly identify appropriate likes and opportunities for improvement relevant to start-ups.

For example: It may not make sense for a small company to have a fully fleshed out decarbonization transition plan in place when they've just started measuring their annual greenhouse gas emissions.

So we'll try to highlight the fact that we appreciate that they are on the right path even if they don't score all of the points related to climate protection in our evaluation.

And we're always happy to provide some free guidance to smaller companies who ask.

We've worked with start-ups and family-fun companies in the past. We know how overwhelming it can be.

Ask Hilde is our blog series focused on answering your questions.

If you have a topic or issue that you'd like us to feature in a future Ask Hilde post, please get in touch

We look forward to hearing from you!