This Imperative requires that manufacturers look beyond strictly environmental metrics and consider social impacts of their actions. Manufacturers can create positive social change through their Handprinting actions, known as social co-benefits.
Manufacturers must demonstrate that at the time of certification, and for at least the next three years of production, they will work within the broader ecosystem of suppliers, workers, customers and key stakeholders to harness social co-benefits from their environmental Handprint strategies by:
- Providing a narrative describing how their environmental Handprinting strategies are designed to also generate social co-benefits.
- Creating a plan to measure and assess the social co-benefits over the next three years, and creating a process to re-evaluate their results.
- Gathering brief narratives from any organizations the manufacturer partners with to bring about social co-benefits.
To achieve this Imperative, manufacturers must demonstrate that at least 75% of one of the relevant LCA impact areas in LPC (Energy, Water or Carbon) is associated with a strategy that results in tangible social co-benefits. Manufacturers are encouraged to keep positive impacts as local as possible.
