In early 2013, a group of 8 pet product manufacturers came together to create the Pet Industry Sustainability Coalition (PISC). Less than 18 months later, PISC has grown to 95 member companies working together to catalyze major transformation in the industry by bringing proven partners, tools and enthusiasm to their steadily growing membership.

To help provide members with an easy to follow roadmap to create and execute attainable sustainability strategies and practices, PISC recently launched a collaborative 4-step program, cleverly called “The Accelerator.” Over the next 6 months, each company can use The Accelerator to not only identify, but also help them implement key areas of improvement in sustainability, and then report on their progress at Global Pet Expo 2015. While this program builds off PISC’s existing relationship with Natural Capitalism Solutions, the organization that developed their initial web-based toolkit, The Accelerator also showcases a new partnership with another key partner: not-for-profit B Lab. Well known for their B Corporation Certification and partnerships with the investment community as a pre-qualification metric, B Lab is dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

How is PISC harnessing the power of this B Lab partnership? In step 2 of The Accelerator, participants will take the PISC Quick Assessment developed by B Lab and released August 1st. This 1-hour confidential assessment helps companies evaluate performance in three key sustainability areas: environment, community & employees. After completing the assessment, each company receives a report card with comparative results from the 17,000 other companies who have answered these same questions and then builds a plan for improvement with PISC and partner Natural Capitalism Solutions.

Spencer Williams, President of West Paw Design, a founding member of PISC and the PISC’s keynote speaker at their recent Launch Event, scored just two points below global brand Patagonia® in the environmental portion of the B Impact Assessment. “This is a partnership that connects two organizations with similar core values and leverages their potential to provide a critically needed tool for PISC members. Here at WestPaw, the B Lab assessment has been a catalyst for employee lead improvements, building pride, and furthering innovation.

Not only are current PISC members excited to participate in The Accelerator, (100% of PISC’s Founding Members committed to participation before released to the general membership) but it has also attracted new members including Healthy Pet, Life is Good, Coastal Pet Products , Copper River Seafoods, R2Pet, Kinn, Doggles, Prairie Dog Pet Products, and Caru, just to name a few. As a new member of PISC, Ted Mischaikov, Chief Executive Officer of Healthy Pet stated, "Healthy Pet is excited and honored to join PISC and The Accelerator Program. We believe in sustainability without compromise and find PISC to be a key opportunity for sharing key achievements from our long-standing sustainable business practices. Building off of our current successes will require more strategic planning and an integrated communications plan for delivering exceptional results, a process that we believe PISC and their partners can facilitate and help us achieve."