Room & Board Becomes a Certified B Corporation

Room & Board, a Minneapolis-based furniture and home decor company, has joined the ranks of certified B Corporations.

Room & Board has a long and storied history of sustainability. Since its inception in 1980, Room & Board has focused on creating long-lasting and timeless furniture to keep it out of landfills.

With roughly 10,000 tons of furniture going to the landfill each year, every little bit diverted counts. To further strengthen its environmental commitment, Room & Board went through the certification process in 2023 to become a B Corporation. This endeavor is particularly noteworthy as B Corp companies must adhere to strict environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to attain and uphold their certification.

This certification process is quite an achievement, with only 8,395 companies globally meeting the requirements. A B Corp certification demonstrates to consumers that the organization has high standards of environmental and social performance, has legally changed its corporate governance structure to be transparent to stakeholders, and publicly discloses its performance on the B Lab website, the non-profit entity responsible for the certification process.

Many companies pursue B Corp certification to assure consumers that the company’s claims are authentic and free from greenwashing.

Room & Board pursued certification to ensure that its sustainability vision and mission remain steadfast for decades to come, regardless of leadership changes, and to ensure that consumers can continue to rely on the brand they have come to know and trust.

We recently interviewed Emily McGarvey, Director of Sustainability at Room & Board, about the company's decision to elevate its commitment to sustainability by becoming a B Corporation.  “We actually changed our articles of incorporation to say that we'll take into account all stakeholders and not act on just profit, but we're thinking about staff and community and the environment,” she said.

“It puts a fiduciary responsibility into our governance structure, which ensures that the mission and vision that we have had in the last 43 years will continue on into the future regardless of who might be here today and who might be here in the future”.

Room & Board aspires to “create better products to do better by people and the planet.” The company’s ambitious environmental goals include:

• Use 100% sustainably sourced wood by 2025.
• Donate 2% of profits annually.
• Use 100% recyclable packaging by 2025.
• Use 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
• Divert 90% of their operational waste by 2030.
• Continue to have more than 90% of their products made in America.

To learn more about Room & Board and their commitment to sustainability and becoming a B Corp, check out the video below of Green Builder Media’s CEO Sara Gutterman interviewing Emily McGarvey, Director of Sustainability at Room & Board.

The video will explore what a B Corporation is, the significance of Room & Board's decision to become one, a detailed list of the company’s ESG initiatives, and real-world examples of the company’s high standards for environmental and social performance.

Publisher’s Note: This content is made possible by our Today’s Homeowner Campaign Sponsors: Whirlpool. Whirlpool takes sustainability seriously, in both their products and their operations. Learn more about building and buying homes that are more affordable and less resource intensive.