Mijenta Becomes the First Tequila to Receive B Corp Certification

Altos Planos Inc., producer of award-winning, additive-free and sustainable Mijenta Tequila, said it has received B Corp certification from non-profit organization B Lab. The only tequila producer to receive the recognition to date, the company met or exceeded the B Impact Assessment criteria measuring an organization's social impact across categories including corporate governance, the environment, community, employees and customers.

Now established as a Public Benefit Corporation, Mijenta has been committed to acting responsibly since its launch in September 2020. From inception, Mijenta's operations, procurement practices, sourcing and packaging have been structured to be as environmentally responsible as possible while also delivering benefits to local communities. For instance:

• All of Mijenta's products are carbon neutral. To date, the company has offset nearly 720,000 kilograms of CO₂ through its partnership with ClimatePartner. These actions have supported:
• Cloud forest protection and local community support in Chiapas, Mexico. The longest-lasting project of its kind worldwide, the initiative collaborates with rural communities in Chiapas on reforestation activities and sustainable forest management to enable climate change mitigation, promote social welfare by strengthening local capacities, and encourage the establishment of forest systems, agroforestry, and the sustainable management of community forest areas;
• Forest protection and community support in Mataven, Columbia. The largest REDD+ Project in Colombia, the initiative protects more than 1.1 million hectares of tropical forests and works closely with local communities to provide education, healthcare, sanitation, food security, nutrition, and other social benefits; and
• Clean wind energy with various social benefits for local communities in Northeast Brazil. The initiative focuses on the creation and operation of 14 wind power plants in the states of Piauí and Pernambuco, whose clean and renewable electricity is delivered to the Brazilian Interconnected System.
• All of Mijenta's packaging elements are eco-friendly, including:
• Labels and note cards created locally in Guadalajara from agave waste.
• Blanco and Reposado boxes made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper and thoughtfully designed to require only a single strip of non-toxic glue and use no coating or varnish. Añejo box made from material certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
• Sealing ring in the bottle cap made from biodegradable material.
• The agave harvested for production never uses pesticides or herbicides. To help preserve strong agave for the future, Mijenta ensures that 10% of the plants are with quiote, which allows for greater genetic variation. In the future, its goal is to allow 20% of the agave to flower.
• Mijenta also works hand-in-hand with local businesses and communities, using exclusively Mexican partners to source packaging elements, and working with like-minded organizations to amplify its impact. This includes Whales of Guerrero, a non-profit that organizes community-driven conservation in the State of Guerrero, Mexico and The Ocean Foundation, to which Mijenta donated a portion of sales proceeds during Earth Month 2022 to help restore healthy coastal ecosystems and support underserved island and coastal communities.

"Our goal when we founded Mijenta was not just to craft a great tequila, but to build a great brand and a great company centered around a strong ethos," said Mike Dolan, co-founder and lead investor. "I'm incredibly proud of what our team has achieved in the two years since we launched, and I hope that this certification inspires other tequila producers to join us in putting social benefit front and center in their business."