In person We attended Past event

BLD Southeast

Greenplaces joined our fellow B-Corps at BLD Southeast in Washington to discuss how we can all be better AI stewards moving forward.

  • Built environment
  • AI governance
BLD

Recap & highlights

The theme that ran through BLD Southeast this year was AI; specifically, what responsible stewardship looks like for companies that have committed to accountability as a business model. Across sessions and hallway conversations, the question wasn't whether B Corps should use AI, but how to do it in a way that holds up to the same scrutiny they apply to everything else: where the data goes, what the energy costs, and who is accountable for the decisions it shapes.

That framing lines up with what we hear from our own customers. Governance comes first — you can't measure or manage AI use your team isn't running through approved tools — and once it's governed, its footprint can be measured and reported like any other Scope 3 category. We left with a clearer sense of how the B Corp community is thinking about that responsibility, and with plenty of new connections across the Southeast.

About this event

BLD Southeast is the annual B Corp Leadership Development conference for the Southeast, organized by regional B Local communities and open to Certified B Corps and any company that believes business can be a force for good. In its sixth year, the conference moved from its Southeast roots in Raleigh, Atlanta, and St. Petersburg to Washington, DC, with two days at George Washington University: optional excursions and an opening reception on September 16, followed by a full day of keynotes, concurrent sessions, and a congressional plenary on September 17.

It's built for founders, operators, and sustainability leads putting people-and-planet practices to work — and proceeds support the B Local organizations across the Mid-Atlantic, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Florida that keep the movement growing locally.

Why we went

For starters, we're a B Corp and we take that seriously! Additionally, many of the companies we work with are B Corps or on the path to certification, and the questions they bring us (how to measure what matters, how to report it credibly, how to hold the line on values while the business grows) are exactly what BLD Southeast is about. Our sustainability team went to DC to learn alongside that community, hear how practitioners are handling the year's hardest questions, and spend time with the people doing the work.

Where it was

3rd Floor of the George Washington University – Student Center Washington, DC

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