“Benefit corporations” legislation puts “people, planet, profit” on bottom line

States move to let firms pursue social mission

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are backing legislation that would allow corporations to write a social mission into their legal charters.

The two say if a bill allowing for so-called “benefit corporations” had been law a decade ago, they might not have had to sell Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. to European conglomerate Unilever.

Bills allowing benefit corporations are pending in Vermont and Maryland, and are expected to be introduced soon in New York, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington state.

Under the bills, companies set up as benefit corporations would have to list their environmental and other social goals and make annual public reports on how well they’re achieving them.