Beyond certification: How we’re putting B Corp values into action
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Time to read 4 min
March is B Corp month, and HealthPost is proud to be part of this global community of businesses using business as a force for good.
Becoming a B Corp requires a rigorous, holistic assessment of every part of a business — from governance and team wellbeing to environmental impact and community engagement. It’s a process that can take years, and certified companies make a legal commitment to uphold these values over time.
HealthPost first certified as a B Corp in 2022. You can read more about our journey here.
We recently completed our recertification process — a significant piece of work that happens every three years — and we’re pleased to have lifted our overall B Corp score from 86.8 to 94. This reflects continued improvements across our operations, environmental impact, and our leadership in regenerating nature.
As always, the process also highlights areas where we can do better, and we look forward to sharing progress on these as the year unfolds.
At its heart, being a B Corp means doing your best for all stakeholders — customers, team, community, and the environment — not just shareholders. We’re proud to stand alongside B Lab and the wider B Corp community in advancing more transparent, accountable and regenerative ways of doing business.
From ethical sourcing and carbon reduction to solar power and nature regeneration, here are some ways we’re currently putting these principles into action.
Investing in ethical sourcing
Ethical sourcing sits at the heart of how we operate at HealthPost.
Before stocking any product, we conduct a thorough ETHICS check, assessing it against our industry-leading standards for ingredients, environmental impact and ethical practices. We engage closely with our supply partners on sourcing, manufacturing and ingredient transparency, and over time these standards have helped influence positive change across the natural products industry in Aotearoa.
There are also ingredients and practices that simply don’t meet our standards. For example, we removed krill products from our range after new research highlighted the detrimental impacts of krill harvesting on the fragile Southern Ocean ecosystem.
Our standards continue to evolve as new research emerges and as the expectations of our customers — and the needs of our planet — grow.
Reducing our carbon emissions
HealthPost is now in its sixth year of operating as a Net Zero Carbon business, and we’re continuing to make steady progress in reducing our operational footprint.
In FY25, our emissions were down 9.3% on the previous year. This reflects lower outward freight due to reduced order volumes, but we also achieved notable reductions across waste, travel and electricity use. We continue to work closely with NZ Post to reduce emissions associated with outward freight, our largest emissions source.
Several initiatives underway now are expected to drive further reductions in FY26, including:
Our switch to POLLAST!C mailers, which have a significantly lower carbon footprint than the jiffy bags they replaced and can be recycled through the NZ Soft Plastics recycling scheme.
Our upgraded solar energy system at our Collingwood premises, which is reducing our reliance on purchased electricity.
For the emissions we can’t yet eliminate, we invest in premium, government-issued carbon credits from the Kahiwi Carbon Farm on Arapaoa Island — a native forest regeneration project that also supports threatened flora and fauna, including kiwi.
Generating our own renewable electricity
We’ve recently completed the first full year of data from our upgraded solar system at our Collingwood site — and the results are encouraging.
Over the year, the system generated 100,780 kWh of renewable electricity. Nearly half of this energy was used onsite, with the remainder exported to the grid.
During the second half of the year, we achieved our goal of producing more energy than we consumed, though we fell just short of achieving this for the full year (at 96.7%). We’re now adjusting operational practices to maximise solar self-consumption — including reviewing lighting systems and charging equipment such as EV forklifts during peak solar production.
Generating our own power brings us closer to the source of the energy we use, strengthening the sense of responsibility and care we bring to managing resources across the business.
Regenerating nature with the HealthPost Nature Trust
Beyond reducing our footprint, we’re also committed to actively restoring and regenerating nature.
A major focus right now is the construction of a predator-proof fence across the base of Onetahua Farewell Spit, designed to protect the many threatened species that depend on this unique ecosystem. Thanks to the generosity of our community, more than $100,000 was raised through a recent crowdfunding campaign to help complete the project.
Once the fence is finished, the next stage will involve exploring the possible reintroduction of taonga species, including kiwi and takahē.
Meanwhile, at the Wharariki Ecosanctuary, an extraordinary milestone has just occurred — the first chicks to hatch on the mainland in over a century have now successfully fledged and are out at sea.
They’re small but powerful beginnings, and a reminder of what’s possible when communities come together on behalf of nature.
You may also have seen the project featured in Stuff NZ, which shared a little of the journey behind the fence and the wider conservation work happening here in Mohua.
It’s been heartening to see the story reaching more people and highlighting the collective effort behind the project.
Looking ahead
B Corp certification is not the finish line — it’s a framework that keeps pushing us to do better.
We’ll also continue to celebrate and collaborate with the many B Corp brands we’re proud to stock — from our own BioBalance, the first supplement brand in Australasia to become a B Corp back in 2018, to local and international trailblazers like Weleda, Organic India, SuperFeast and Ethique, and values-led Kiwi brands such as Bennetto, ŌKU and Goodbye. It’s an inspiring and fast-growing community — especially here in Aotearoa.
We’ll also keep building on these commitments while working toward our wider vision: to have a lasting positive impact on people and planet.
