Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and non-profits alone. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose.
B Corps form a community of leaders and drive a global movement of people using business as a force for good. The values and aspirations of the B Corp community are embedded in the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence.
We envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good.
This economy is comprised of a new type of corporation - the B Corporation -
Which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
As B Corporations and leaders of this emerging economy, we believe:
That we must be the change we seek in the world.
That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.
That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.
B Corp Certification
Verified Performance
Legal Accountability
Public Transparency
B Corp Certification doesn’t just evaluate a product or service; it assesses the overall positive impact of the company that stands behind it. And increasingly that’s what people care most about.
Certified B Corporations achieve a minimum verified score on the B Impact Assessment—a rigorous assessment of a company’s impact on its workers, customers, community, and environment—and make their B Impact Report transparent on bcorporation.net. Certified B Corporations also amend their legal governing documents to require their board of directors to balance profit and purpose.
The combination of third-party validation, public transparency, and legal accountability help Certified B Corps build trust and value. B Corp Certification is administered by the non-profit B Lab.
This leading outdoor apparel company takes responsibility for their entire supply chain, pushing for just working conditions while protecting the environment.
This award-winning brewery's delicious beer is brewed with unsold loaves from bakeries and unused crusts from sandwich makers. They give 100% of profits to Feedback, an environmental charity campaigning to end food waste.
This $3 billion publicly-traded multinational cosmetics company employs more than 2 million people while producing carbon-neutral products and advocating for the Amazon.
PROPER
London, London United Kingdom
This healthy snacks company is one of the fastest growing independent businesses in Europe and the number one premium popcorn brand in the UK.
This IT company provides support and services to impact organisations. They also create training and employment opportunities for people who might not otherwise have the chance.
Probably! There are Certified B Corps in more than 50 countries around the world. Use our B Corp Directory to search by keyword, location, or industry.
B Corp Certification is administered by Standards Analysts at the non-profit B Lab. Standards Analysts are located at B Lab's Pennsylvania, New York, and Amsterdam offices. The standards for B Corp Certification are overseen by B Lab's independent Standards Advisory Council.
Yes! Existing Certified B Corps have gone public, like Laureate and Silver Chef. Publicly-traded companies have also achieved B Corp Certification, such as Natura. Many other Certified B Corps are subsidiaries of publicly-traded companies, such as Ben & Jerry's and Sundial Brands (owned by Unilever) and New Chapter (owned by Proctor & Gamble).
Each year B Lab releases lists of the Certified B Corps with scores in the top 10% of the community, broken down by size and impact area, called the Best for the World Lists. Check out the 2019 Best for the World honorees!
B Corp Certification isn't a perfect fit for every organization. Nonprofits, large multinationals, governmental organizations and companies of all sectors and sizes can join the B Economy by using B Lab's impact management and stakeholder governance tools.
B Corp is a certification. Benefit Corporation is a legal form.
Benefit corporations and Certified B Corporations are often confused. The B Corp Certification is a third-party certification administered by the non-profit B Lab, based in part on a company's verified performance on the B Impact Assessment. The benefit corporation is a legal structure for a business, which exists in 34 states across USA, Italy and Colombia. Benefit corporations are legally empowered to pursue positive stakeholder impact alongside profit. Some companies are both Certified B Corporations and benefit corporations, and the benefit corporation structure fulfills the legal accountability requirement of B Corp Certification. Learn more about the legal form in the UK.
Government can support the movement of B Corps by matching the facts about the working poor, the inequitable distribution of proceeds gained from business, with the opportunity to support a wider base of businesses that operate in everyone’s interests, not just the few that might be shareholders or directors. Government has the power to create policy and legislative frameworks that endorse this as the default way for businesses to operate. There are three areas in which Government could influence the shape of our economy in favour of many:
By procuring goods and services from companies, such as B Corps and social enterprise and businesses, which are focused on and are able to account for the broader social and environmental impact they create. The Welsh Government has led the way globally here by enacting the Wellbeing of Future Generations law. This requires that all procurement decisions from public bodies consider the implications on current and future communities and citizens. B Lab UK will continue to lobby for this long term, inclusive approach to be implemented and accounted for in public procurement strategies.
By creating a new legal form in primary legislation which is designed to serve the interests of all.
By ensuring that companies measure their impact on society and the environment and report on it to their customers, clients, and to all their stakeholders. This enables them to feel authentically served by the company they work for, shop with, invest in or partner with. By combining support for certification of B Corps with improved accountability of all companies, it will become easier to identify those companies that are committed to creating benefit from all from those who merely talk about it. Through this approach, we expect that businesses that create a negative impact will be exposed and forced to reform.
We’re different, but highly aligned. B Corps are for-profit businesses that have made a commitment to create a material positive impact on society and the environment through their operations. Companies certify as a B Corps by earning points on the B Impact Assessment relating to how they do business and whether their business model addresses a particular social or environmental need, and have their score independently verified by B Lab.
In the UK, we are fortunate to have a developed concept of a social enterprise and an active community of businesses who are focused on achieving better outcomes in social and environmental areas. For further details on the criteria to meet the UK social enterprise definition, including the required use of profits and asset locks, see the SEUK website.
Whilst there are some social enterprises that also certify as B Corps, the majority of B Corps in the UK would not self-classify as social enterprises under the UK definition. B Lab’s focus is building on the powerful examples of social enterprises and extending it to support mainstream businesses that give the same rigour to their social and environmental impact as they do to their financial returns. We see this as a great opportunity to make a difference at scale and by doing so, to reinvent the role of business in society.
US tertiary education company Laureate was the first B Corp to go public and raise capital via an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2017. It raised $430m through Nasdaq and a further $380m from private equity firms such as KKR. The B Corp certification was seen as an attraction as the value of the impact focus was recognised by investors.
We also see an interest in comparatively smaller, newer B Corps, (such as Pukka Herbs and People against Dirty), being purchased by larger more traditional companies (such as Unilever and SC Johnson respectively). This benefits both parties: the purchaser recognises the value of the B Corp certification in attracting and retaining talent and in its appeal to a wider customer base, and the purchased company is offered a route to exit whilst ensuring that the mission of the company is protected.
As more companies apply for B Corp certification, B Lab and its Standards Advisory Council must develop models for how to effectively evaluate the impacts of many different industries, policies and practices. As part of your assessment, you will be asked to complete the Disclosure Questionnaire; the final series of questions your company will answer in the B Impact Assessment.
While B Corp certification is primarily based on assessing a business' positive impact, material negative impacts are also considered through the Disclosure Questionnaire, background checks, and a public complaint process. The Disclosure Questionnaire allows the company to confidentially disclose to B Lab any sensitive practices, fines, and sanctions related to the company or its partners. Responses to the Disclosure Questionnaire do not affect a company’s numerical score on the B Impact Assessment but can ultimately affect its eligibility for certification.
Typically, the majority of these responses are minor in nature and therefore no further action is needed. However, if B Lab identifies one or more items in the Disclosure Questionnaire or in a background check of a company and its senior management to be material, it may merit further transparency, and the company will be notified to provide incremental disclosure of relevant information. In certain cases, the company will be required to implement specific remedies to obtain or maintain their B Corp certification. In rare cases the company's certification will be denied or revoked. You can read more on the controversial issues page.
Acceptance into and continued participation in the B Corp community is at the sole discretion of the Standards Advisory Council and B Lab's Board of Directors.
