On Thursday 30 June, the Spanish Congress of Deputies approved the opinion on the Bill on the creation and growth of companies, which provides for the introduction of a new legal figure that will ensure the future of companies in society and their responsibility in terms of sustainability. This figure will be that of the Societies of Benefit and Common Interest (SBIC).11
Thanks to this new figure, companies that generate social and environmental benefits can be recognised. In order to obtain such recognition, they must include in their statutes the triple objective of creating economic, social and environmental value, and they must also demonstrate their performance in these three areas in a transparent manner.
The main objective of this measure is to align the business fabric with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. In this way, we will be able to take as an example the work focused on sustainability carried out by companies in other countries such as France, where this figure has been in place since 2019, or Italy, where it has been present since 2016.
Now that we know the great contributions that this figure will make, we should ask ourselves, who should we thank? This initiative has been promoted and coordinated by the non-profit organization B Lab Spain, through the “Companies with a purpose” project, which has more than 30,000 signatures, 400 organizations and 50 personalities backing the idea.
Thanks to advances like this, we can see the desire of our society to move towards a more sustainable future in the business world. Although we are proud to say that more and more companies in the film and advertising sector are developing their activities with sustainability in mind, all companies in all sectors need to be aware of the situation.
We can only hope that the Senate will continue the procedure and that it will be approved within the deadlines set by the law itself, and that we will be closer and closer to getting all Spanish companies to focus their attention on such an important aspect as sustainability.
