After you certify
B Corp Certification marks the culmination of a significant journey of measuring, managing and improving your impact. But it also marks the start of an exciting new chapter as you join a dynamic and supportive community of like-minded companies in the UK and across the world.
The benefits of being a B Corp
After the rigorous and challenging review process, you can begin to enjoy the many benefits of being part of the global B Corp Movement.
- Improving impact through participation in working groups, sharing best practice and ongoing use of the BIA and SDG Action Manager
- Collaborating with other B Corps, joining B Locals around the UK and working together to find solutions to specific challenges
- Networking and attending exclusive community events
- Alignment with B Lab and the B Corp Community on global issues
- Engaging employees in the company’s purpose and mission and attracting and retaining talent
- Articulating the company’s mission externally – to investors, clients, customers and suppliers
Recertification
Recertification is required every three years to maintain your B Corp Certification.
The best way to do this is to actively use the B Impact Assessment throughout these years as a framework to inspire and catalogue improvements.
B Corps recertify by reviewing their B Impact Assessment and ensuring all the information is accurate and up to date. This is important because the B Impact Assessment itself is updated every three years to stay in-line with evolving best practice in social and environmental standards. As before, the assessment is then submitted, documentation is provided and the score is verified by B Lab.
You’ll be contacted by B Lab when it’s time to start the certification process.
Impact reporting
During the two-year period between certifications, all B Corps are required to publish an annual report.
Why is an impact report important? It fosters regular, open communication with your stakeholders, demonstrates your current progress and future plans and proves to the wider community that positive impact on people and the planet is achievable.
Who is the report for? It’s for anyone with a vested interest in the company: internal stakeholders (staff, directors, board members) as well as your wider audience (customers, partners and suppliers).
Who should write your report? Creating an impact report is a team effort, so engage your stakeholders to establish which of your impact areas they are most interested in and to coordinate the process.
What should you include in your impact report? Details of anything performance or operations-related that may significantly affect your social and environmental impact now and in the future. You can use your previous BIA score to report your social and environmental performance and benchmark this against the previous year’s scores.
Sharing your impact report. The finished report should be circulated to key stakeholders and investors and published on your website; you may also choose to lodge the report with Companies House.
