Checklist
FOR YOUR PRACTICE · 16 MIN READ
THE SWITCH LIST: WHAT MY BUSINESS RUNS ON
Every business you pay is part of your supply chain, from the bank to the toilet paper. These are the ones mine runs on.
Your business has a supply chain, even if you've never called it that.
Every business you pay is part of it. Your bank, your super fund, your phone company, the coffee in the kitchen, the people who clean the office. Pay a business that treats its people well and looks after the planet, and you're funding more of that good work. Keep your money with a bank that lends to companies expanding coal and gas, and your deposit is helping to fund the next mine or gas field.
A Certified B Corp is a business that's been independently assessed on how it treats its workers, community, customers and the environment, not just on its profit. It has to write those commitments into its legal structure, and it's reassessed every few years. It isn't perfect, but it's a handy certification to look for when you're trying to work out who to buy from.
Which bank I use is also the question I get asked most after a talk, well ahead of anything about photography. So here's my whole list. The supply chain my business runs on, what switching to them actually involved, and a few more worth knowing about in each area. Every business on it is a Certified B Corp. Nobody pays me to be on it and there are no affiliate links, because the moment there are, you can't really trust the list.
I've been a B Corp myself since 2021, and moving my suppliers across was a big part of getting there. What surprised me most was how easy it actually is to find better businesses to buy from.
Here's how I started. One day I was about to reorder the same old dog food online and thought, I wonder if there's a better option? There was, and I learnt that I could buy dog food from a Certified B Corp (there are three in Australia, in fact). Now I ask the same question about everything I need to buy, and it makes quite a fun game.
You can do it the same way. Every time you're about to buy something, search for a more ethical or sustainable option first.
And there's plenty to choose from. There are more than 800 Certified B Corps across Australia and New Zealand now, so there's one to replace almost anything you're currently buying. This list is just where I'd start.
IN THIS GUIDE
01 Super
02 Bank
03 Insurance
07 Tech
09 The bathroom and the cleaning
10 Furniture, lighting and rugs
11 Merch
Start with the table. How many are you already with?
WHAT
WHO I USE
ALSO WORTH A LOOK
Super
Who I use: Australian Ethical
Also worth a look: Future Super, Verve
Bank
Who I use: Bank Australia
Also worth a look: Beyond Bank
Insurance
Who I use: Huddle (car)
Also worth a look: Barrack Broking (business)
Cars and fleet
Who I use: Huddle (car insurance)
Also worth a look: Simplygreen (novated leasing), evee (EV rental)
Phone and internet
Who I use: Goodtel
Also worth a look: Aussie Broadband
Domains and web hosting
Who I use: Serversaurus
Also worth a look: –
Tech
Who I use: Bellroy
Also worth a look: Back Market, TechForGood
Coffee
Who I use: 23 Degrees, Market Lane, Pablo & Rusty's
Also worth a look: Single O, Sample, Jasper, Rumble
Tea and cups
Who I use: KeepCup
Also worth a look: T2
Toilet paper
Who I use: Who Gives a Crap
Also worth a look: –
Soap
Who I use: Ethique, Aesop
Also worth a look: –
Cleaning
Who I use: Ecostore
Also worth a look: Cleancorp (commercial cleaning)
If you only do one, make it super. It's probably the biggest number under your control, and nothing else about how you run the business has to change.
01 Super
This is the big one, and I find that it seems to be a really big blind spot for a lot of people. Your super is probably the largest pool of money with your name attached to it, and it's invested in something right now whether you chose that or not. Did you choose it, or did it come with your first job and you just never changed? Market Forces will show you whether your current fund is invested in companies expanding coal, oil and gas.
I use: Australian Ethical. I've been with them since my twenties.
Also worth a look: Future Super and Verve, which both sit under Future Group, and the certification covers the whole group.
The switch: Mostly done for you. You join online, and with your ID and tax file number they search the ATO for your existing super, show you what's there, and handle the rollover with your old fund.
Hot tip: Check your insurance before you close the old account, because a new fund won't always offer the same cover, especially if your health has changed. If that's you, keep the old account open just for the insurance, with enough in it to pay the premiums, and tell that fund you want to keep your cover (otherwise it's cancelled after 16 months with nothing going in). And "ethical" means different things to different funds, so read the actual holdings, not the landing page.
02 Bank
Your deposit doesn't sit in a vault with your name on it. It gets lent to something. Market Forces compares the banks operating in Australia on whether they've financed coal, oil and gas companies, and what their current policy on fossil fuel lending is. It takes about two minutes to find yours.
I use: Bank Australia. Customer-owned, no lending to fossil fuels, live animal export or the arms trade, and the only Australian bank looking after its own conservation reserve, on Wotjobaluk Country in western Victoria.
Also worth a look: Beyond Bank. It's one of eight B Corp banks in Australia now, and all eight are customer-owned.
The switch: Easier than you'd think. Their switching form gives them permission to get your list of regular payments from your old bank, and they move your direct credits and direct debits across for you.
Hot tip: The only things you chase yourself are subscriptions set up on a card (Netflix, the gym, that software you forgot you pay for) and any transfers you set up by hand. Write those down before you start. I used a simple template when I switched – a row for every automatic payment, the date it comes out, whether it's on the account or the card, and a column to tick off once it's moved. It comes with the list at the bottom of this page.
03 Insurance
I use: Huddle for car insurance. They're a B Corp through their parent company, Open.
Also worth a look: Barrack Broking, a staff-owned B Corp insurance broker with offices in Sydney, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, for business insurance.
The switch: Do it at renewal time and there's nothing to cancel.
Hot tip: Huddle also does home and contents, and travel insurance, so the car doesn't have to be the only thing you move across.
04 Cars and fleet
I use: Huddle for car insurance.
Also worth a look: Simplygreen, for salary packaging and novated leasing. They're based in Victoria, every vehicle they package is carbon offset, and they're the only B Corp novated leasing provider I could find. And evee, for electric car rental, where EV owners rent out their cars when they're not using them. Handy for the odd time that you need a car, without owning another one.
The switch: A novated lease runs for a set term, so the natural time to change provider is when yours is due to end. Car insurance switches at renewal, like any other insurance.
Hot tip: If you're going electric, ask about the fringe benefits tax exemption for EVs on a novated lease, because it can make a big difference to what the car costs you. The rules start changing from April 2027 (existing leases aren't affected), so get current numbers before you sign.
Free download
If you'd like it as a two-page PDF with a tick column, I'll send it over.
05 Phone and internet
I use: Goodtel. Carbon neutral, Australian, and half their profits go to charity.
Also worth a look: Aussie Broadband, which started in a living room in Morwell in 2003, and still keeps all its customer service in Australia.
The switch: You keep your mobile number, and the new provider ports it across for you.
Hot tip: Same coverage as the big telcos, because they're on the same networks (I can vouch that Goodtel uses the Telstra network).
06 Domains and web hosting
I use: Serversaurus for my domains. They also do web and email hosting, Google Workspace hosting, managed cloud and WordPress management, all on Australian infrastructure. Their operations are carbon offset, and they give 1% of revenue to environmental causes.
The switch: Moving a domain means getting a transfer code from your current registrar, and the new one does the rest. Hosting takes more care, so ask them to do the migration.
Hot tip: If your website agency looks after your hosting, ask them who they use. And run your site through the free Website Carbon Calculator, which shows roughly how much carbon each page view produces and whether your host runs on renewable energy.
07 Tech
I use: Bellroy, for bags, laptop sleeves and the bits that keep your cables under control. My latest is the Laneway Sacoche, a little crossbody bag for a recent trip overseas, made from their Seaweave fabric – half recycled fishing nets, half recycled industrial nylon.
Also worth a look: Back Market for refurbished phones and laptops, and TechForGood for new business laptops, monitors and software (they're a social enterprise as well). And when something's finished, TechCollect, run by the B Corp ANZRP, recycles old computers and TVs for households and small businesses.
Hot tip: TechCollect is free for households and small businesses, so the old laptop in the drawer costs nothing to recycle. Wipe your data first, because they won't do it for you.
08 The office kitchen
A few years ago I counted six B Corp coffee roasters in Australia. There are more than a dozen now, which means there's really no excuse left for coffee that isn't B Corp or ethically sourced.
I use: 23 Degrees, a female-owned Melbourne roaster whose coffee is organic, fair trade and supports female growers. Market Lane, also in Melbourne, and Pablo & Rusty's on occasion. And KeepCup for the cups.
Also worth a look: Single O, Sample, Jasper, Rumble, Melbourne Coffee Merchants and Sprout, so there's very likely one near you. T2 for tea.
Hot tip: Market Lane and Pablo & Rusty's both do drip bags that sit over your cup. Pack a few for work trips – so much better than hotel coffee.
09 The bathroom and the cleaning
I use: Who Gives a Crap for toilet paper, kitchen towel and tissues. It's the best name for a B Corp there is, and half their profits go towards clean water and toilets for people who don't have them. Ethique for hand soap, and sometimes Aesop. Ecostore for cleaning.
Also worth a look: Cleancorp, for commercial cleaning across Australia and New Zealand, if someone else does your cleaning.
Hot tip: Who Gives a Crap runs on a subscription, in boxes of 24 or 48 rolls, and emails you three days before each delivery so you can skip one if you're still stocked up. Nobody has to do the toilet paper run ever again.
10 Furniture, lighting and rugs
I use: Koala office chairs, and Armadillo rugs. They're the only rugs in my house and my office.
Also worth a look: Jardan, which started as a small upholstery workshop in Melbourne in 1987 and still designs and makes most of its furniture at its own factory in Scoresby. Koskela for commercial furniture and workplace fit-outs, and David Trubridge for lighting.
Hot tip: Koskela treats office furniture as a service, not something you buy and eventually throw out. You subscribe instead of paying a big upfront cost, they check in twice a year to repair or reconfigure it, and at the end of the term they take it back to refurbish, redeploy or remanufacture.
11 Merch
I haven't made any merch for my own business yet. It's rarely a sustainable product, and a lot of it goes straight to landfill. If you have to order it, order less, make it something people will actually use, and get it from a B Corp.
Worth a look: Look Brilliant, Perth-based and working nationally across promotional products, uniforms and event displays. And Jungle Merch in Sydney, for apparel plus the smaller bits (caps, bandanas, keyrings, stubby holders).
Hot tip: If it has to have your logo on it, put it on something people use every day, and get it from a B Corp. KeepCup does custom-branded cups for businesses, and Blunt does branded umbrellas that are built to be repaired rather than binned. Both get used instead of ending up in a drawer.
12 Clothing and uniforms
I use: Etiko sneakers. They look pretty much like Converse, except they're fair trade, organic and vegan.
Also worth a look: The Common Good Company in Melbourne turns textile waste into tees, with an epic story and ethos to match. They've done collaborations with Who Gives a Crap, Heaps Normal and Triple J, and their wholesale program covers printing and embroidery with low minimums, so it suits a studio ordering a small run of tees or hoodies. Ethical Tees in Marrickville prints on organic and fair trade tees, hoodies, totes and caps. Citizen Wolf in Sydney makes clothes to order, including corporate uniforms. And M.J. Bale if you need corporate suits for men.
Hot tip: Uniforms usually get ordered in a spread of sizes, and the spares end up in a box. Citizen Wolf makes each piece to order in its Sydney factory, cut to the person's height, weight and age, so there are no spares.
13 Staff functions and gifts
The end-of-year drinks can be B Corp from start to finish. There's even gin.
I use: Applewood gin, from the Adelaide Hills, which is one of my favourites. Brick Lane for beer, and Heaps Normal for when you feel like going alcohol free.
Also worth a look:
Beer – there are eight B Corp breweries in Australia now. As well as Brick Lane and Heaps Normal, there's Capital, Grifter, Jervis Bay, 4 Pines, Young Henrys and Tribe Breweries. Plus Lion, the brewer behind Stone & Wood and Little Creatures.
Wine – Unico Zelo, Minimum Wines, and Australian Vintage (McGuigan, Tempus Two and Nepenthe in the Adelaide Hills).
More gin – Cape Byron Distillery, who make Brookie's, and Four Pillars, through Lion.
Events – Frank Wild, a sustainable events agency in Melbourne and Sydney, if you're running something bigger than drinks.
Gift boxes – Bindle.
Flowers, hampers, workshops and catering – Miei in Melbourne does all of it for corporate clients. It's a social enterprise too, funding children's education through its partnership with The Smith Family.
Flowers in Sydney – Florada.
14 Everything else
There's a B Corp for almost anything you'd hire, and at least one B Corp photographer :) Before you next engage anyone, search the B Corp directory first. A few to show the range:
Accountants – Nudge Accountants in Queensland, for business owners who want a straight answer. Their line is "no hedging, no maybes, just a nudge in the right direction", which is refreshing from an accountant.
Financial advice – Fox & Hare in Sydney, set up for people the finance industry tends to overlook, and good if you're earlier in your career. I met co-founder Glen Hare at the B Corp conference, and he was awesome.
Lawyers – Hive Legal, a Melbourne law business.
Web and digital – Luminary, a digital agency in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Sustainability consultants – Edge Impact, if you're working on your own targets or reporting.
Video – Green Thumb Media in Byron Bay, one of only a handful of B Corp video production companies in Australia.
Recruitment – Talent Nation, which specialises in ESG, environment and sustainability roles, so it's the place to start if you're hiring someone to run your sustainability work.
Coworking – The Commons, with spaces around Melbourne and in Surry Hills in Sydney. They support our B Local Melbourne events, and the spaces are beautiful. Hub Australia has spaces in six capital cities, including one tucked inside Customs House at Circular Quay.
There are marketing and branding agencies and consultants of every kind too. The directory lets you search by what they do and filter by location.
And if you design or build, your biggest lever isn't on this list at all. It's what you specify, and that's in the nature piece: The habitat list.
And for home
Once you start, it's hard to stop at the office. This is what's at my place.
The dog: Petzyo, Lyka and Scratch.
Bedroom: Koala and Eva mattresses.
Bathroom: Flora & Fauna and Biome for personal care. For nail polish, Sienna Byron Bay is a B Corp.
Pantry: Even my peanut butter is B Corp. It's Pic's.
Wardrobe: Outland Denim jeans, ELK, Nancybird, Will & Bear hats and R.M. Williams boots. Boody undies (they also do exercise leggings).
Shoes: Indosole thongs, made from recycled tyres, instead of the great Australian classic, Havaianas. Bared Footwear when I need something a bit nicer.
I keep this list current, because things move – businesses get bought, certifications lapse, new ones turn up.
Keep reading
Guide
The habitat list: what to design in, and what to design out
A 10-star home can still clear every bit of habitat on its site.
Checklist
The switch list: what my business runs on
Every business you pay is part of your supply chain, from the bank to the toilet paper. These are the ones mine runs on.
Guide
Choose a cause like you'd choose a client
Carefully, for the long term, and because it fits the work you want to be known for. How to find a giving partner that your team, your clients and your marketing can all get behind.
Checklist
Your biodiversity baseline
One page, seven areas, about five minutes. It shows where your practice sits on nature today, so next year you can tell whether it moved.
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