B Lab takes complaints seriously and appreciates those who come forward with them. Material complaints are overseen by B Lab's independent Standards Advisory Council. Learn more about our complaints process.
The standards for B Corp certification are created and overseen by B Lab's independent Standards Advisory Council (SAC), whose members bring industry and stakeholder expertise to the B Impact Assessment.
Although the SAC creates the standards, we invite all interested to provide feedback on the standards. The best way to submit your feedback is to log into the B Impact Assessment and select “Leave Feedback” next to each question. The Assessment also goes through a private and public beta period in which feedback is collected and integrated into final versions. Expert working groups are convened in order to explore our specific issues more closely in an objective manner. The Assessment is updated every three years in order to accommodate new and innovative practices, respond to the feedback of its users, and to more accurately assess the impact of all types of businesses.
In addition, B Lab has Regional Advisory Groups whose mandate is to deepen the engagement of regional experts in improving the Standards of the B Impact Assessment. Currently, B Lab has advisory groups in Latin America, East Africa, Australia and UK which provide constructive feedback and recommendations to B Lab and our SAC on regional specific issues.
The B Impact Assessment provides a judgement (via an objective, comprehensive rating) on how significant a company’s current social and environmental impact is. This is combined with the unique legal requirement for B Corps to embed consideration for all stakeholders in their governing documents and make a tangible commitment to the ‘triple bottom line’ of people, planet and profit.
The BIA is more than just an audit or an assessment, it is a comprehensive measurement of a company’s entire operations (governance, workers, community, environment and customers). Globally, our community of over 3,700 B Corps are a movement of purpose-driven companies working together to advocate for a regenerative economy.
B Lab is always interested in collaborating with other organisations working in this space, for example, B Lab recently partnered with the United Nations Global Compact to develop the SDG Action Manager, a tool which is integrated with the B Impact Assessment to enable companies to manage their progress against the UN Sustainable Development Goals in conjunction with their B Impact Assessment.
A new version of the BIA is released approximately every three years, with the next version scheduled for release in 2022.
Prior to the release of each new version of the assessment, B Lab conducts both a private and public beta period that allows all stakeholders to provide feedback to the standards before they are published. All are welcome and encouraged to provide feedback on how the BIA can be improved. Users can leave feedback directly in the BIA platform using the Leave Feedback button next to each question.
B Lab is the non-profit organisation transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, our global network creates standards, policies, and tools for business, and we certify companies — known as B Corps — who are leading the way.
B Lab envisions that all businesses in the world will measure and manage their impact as readily as they do profitability. Read more about how B Lab hopes to achieve this vision here.
The questions you will see in the Assessment are tailored based on the following characteristics of the company:
Geography: Developed Markets; Emerging Markets
Sector: Service; Wholesale/Retail; Manufacturing; Agriculture
Employee size*: 0 Employees; 1-9 Employees; 10-49 Employees; 50-249 Employees; 250-1000 Employees; 1000+ Employees
*The key factor involved here is the number of Full-time equivalent employees that are employed on the company’s payroll.
The highest verified scores achieved on the BIA typically vary from year to year but are generally between 160-170 points. To see the companies that achieved the highest scores, view the Best For the World list.
The B Impact Assessment examines a company's impact on their workers, community, environment, and customers. The BIA also asks questions about a company's governance structure and accountability. Questions are split into two categories: Operations, which covers a company's day-to-day activities, and Impact Business Models, which awards additional points for business models designed to create additional positive impact. The B Impact Assessment is updated every year to incorporate feedback and improve upon the standards. Learn more about the performance requirements for Certification.
All Certified B Corps share their B Impact Assessment overall scores and category scores on their public profiles on bcorporation.uk. Public companies and their subsidiaries have extra transparency requirements and make their entire B Impact Assessment public, with particularly sensitive information like revenue redacted. Companies that have material items, such as lawsuits, on their Disclosure Questionnaire may also be required to make that disclosure transparent as well. Learn more about the certification requirements.
In the two years between certification, all B Corps must write an Annual Impact Report on their progress to create positive impact.
The Annual Impact Report allows B Corps to be transparent and accountable to their stakeholders about their social and environmental impact, showcase best practice, encourage an open conversation and help build the business case for responsible business.
You can access guidance on how to write an Annual Impact Report here.
We encourage companies to involve anyone that is interested, regardless of their title or time with the company. We recommend appointing one person as a lead; this individual typically completes a first draft of the assessment and then convenes a supporting team to assist. The size and composition of the team may vary depending on the size and structure of your company, however the most common profiles include CEOs, CFOs, HR Managers, COOs, Finance, Sustainability, Supply Chain, Procurement, and Interns.
The past twelve months or trailing twelve months is the recommended reporting period. We recommend using the 12-month period that most closely reflects the company’s operations as of today but is easy for your company to report consistently on. As a result, if using the last Fiscal Year is easier, we would encourage your company to use this period.
B Corp Certification is based in part on a company's verified performance on the B Impact Assessment, which asks questions about a company's past fiscal year. This means that companies with less than one year of operations are not yet eligible for B Corp Certification. Instead, they may pursue Pending B Corp status, designed to set a start-up on the path to full Certification.
Please select the country where the majority of your employees operate. If your company's structure is large or complex, we strongly recommend that you get in touch with us at certification@bcorporation.uk so we can help you determine the right certification approach.
There are a number of different ways you can access support with the B Impact Assessment:
The Improvement Report on the B Impact Assessment is a valuable tool and you can find out how it works here. The Improvement Report provides recommendations for how to improve your impact based on your current responses to specific questions on the assessment. Many companies actively use this as an improvement tool to increase their score over time.
The Knowledge Base hosts useful articles to guide businesses through the assessment and certification process.
If you require hands-on support to improve your score, B Lab UK trains experienced sustainability professionals in the B Corp certification process and impact measurement framework. These ‘B Leaders’ form a group of external consultants that can support companies through their certification. There are costs to working with these consultants but if that is of interest, you can find out more about B Leaders here and search, filter and contact those consultants that may be most appropriate for you
B Lab recognises that measuring environmental impact will look different in different companies. The majority of the topics assessed in the Environment section (such as energy usage or travel) still apply for virtual businesses. It might be difficult to collate this information if your employees work from home, or in a shared office space. However, the intent is to meaningfully measure and assess the impact of the space your employees use regardless of whether they are company sanctioned or not.
We typically recommend answering affirmatively to questions that are true for a majority of your employees. For example, if a majority of your employees recycle at home, please select “Yes” for that question. You could also ask your workers to report on their monthly energy and water usage and take an average across your employees.
To submit your assessment, go into the B Impact Assessment website and navigate to ‘B Corporation Certification’ then ‘Summary’. Here you will see any outstanding actions you need to complete in order to submit. Once the required actions have been completed, the padlock will turn into a submit button. Find out more here.
All B Corps are required to recertify once every three years.
Access to the B Impact Assessment is free. Certified B Corporations pay an annual certification fee, which licenses them to use intellectual property like the Certified B Corp logo. This fee starts as low as £500 for certified B Corps and scales based on a company's revenue. If you have been operating for less than a year, you can become a Pending B Corp which is £250. You can see the full pricing schedule on the Certification page.
Any for-profit company with at least a year of operations may pursue B Corp Certification. There is no minimum or maximum size. Certain companies, such as those under a year old, those with related entities, or large multinational and public companies, have additional considerations and requirements.
The time involved largely depends on the size and complexity (number of operating locations) of your company. For most small businesses, it can take a couple of weeks to complete a rough baseline. For larger or more complex companies, it can take several weeks or months. For your convenience the assessment can be saved and revisited at any time to allow for easy access. The time it takes for a company to submit its application, will depend on its initial baseline score and whether a period of improvement is required to reach 80 points. We recommend expecting up to 6 months for the verification process, however this can be longer or shorter depending on whether your score drops below 80 points during the review.
Companies and other business forms wishing to become B Corps in the UK must meet a legal accountability requirement to maintain their certification, and will need to amend their governing documents to include a commitment to a ‘triple bottom line’ approach to business. In practice, for a typical business, this means amending the company’s Articles of Association to state that the company exists to promote the success of the business for the benefit not only of its shareholders, but also to have a material positive impact on society and the environment.
The governing documents of B Corps will need to state the company’s commitment to consider a range of ‘stakeholder interests’ – including shareholders, employees, suppliers, society and the environment – when making decisions and, critically, that shareholder value is not the supreme consideration but is one factor amongst the many stakeholder interests.
Your company's legal requirement will vary based on your location and structure. For companies looking to certify as a B Corp in the UK, this guide outlines the steps for amending your governing documents to include the B Corp legal language verbatim (the “Legal Test”). If you are outside of the UK please use our Legal Requirement tool.
Yes! There's no minimum size for B Corp Certification. Your company size will influence the questions you have to answer on the B Impact Assessment to meet the performance requirement for Certification.
In order to become a certified B Corp, companies are required to:
1. Achieve a score of at least 80 points on the B Impact Assessment and submit it for review. The assessment is verified by our independent Standards Management Team and companies will be asked to provide documentation and other evidence to support and verify answers.
2. Meet the B Corp Legal requirement to amend the company’s Articles of Association, making a commitment to consider all stakeholders in the company's decision-making, not just shareholders. Use this legal requirement tool to find out how to meet the legal requirement.
3. Pay the certification fee. There is an annual certification fee to become a B Corp, based on a company’s revenue.
Subsidiaries, franchises, and companies with related entities may pursue B Corp Certification, with certain limits. Subsidiaries of publicly-traded companies also must meet additional transparency requirements.
All B Corps and Pending B Corps are required to amend their constitutional documents to include the B Corp legal language. Companies should seek to meet the B Corp legal requirement before or as part of their certification.
We appreciate that this can be a time-consuming process, and there are some exceptions for larger companies that may require more time to complete the necessary approvals. If you are unsure about the appropriate approach for your organisation, please contact certification@bcorporation.uk.
Yes - you will receive questions that are tailored to the size (number of employees) and type (sector) of business when you register on the B Impact Assessment. Please indicate the appropriate number of employees at this time, so that we can provide you with the most appropriate assessment.
Pending B Corp status is for early stage companies seeking to signal that they are on track to certifying as a B Corp. To be eligible for Pending B Corp status, companies must have been operational for less than 1 year. You can find out more about how we calculate a company’s operational start date here, and the process for becoming a Pending B Corp here.
To become a Pending B Corp, the key requirements are:
Complete the B Impact Assessment on a prospective basis, estimating what your performance will be once you have been operational for at least 1 year. You don't need to achieve 80 points, the prospective B Impact Assessment does not need to be verified by B Lab, and you will receive no verified score.
Meet the B Corp Legal requirement to amend your Articles of Association to reflect your company’s commitment to considering all stakeholders as part of its decision-making, not just shareholders. Use this legal requirement tool to find out how your company could meet the legal requirement.
Sign the Pending B Corp Agreement and pay a one-time fee of £250.
Pending B Corps complete the same version of the B Impact Assessment as all other companies. For B Lab to know that you intend to gain Pending B status, please make sure you accurately specify your company’s operational start date on the Company Details page. To submit your assessment, go into the B Impact Assessment website and navigate to ‘B Corporation Certification’ then ‘Summary’. Here you will see any outstanding actions you need to complete in order to submit. Once the required actions have been completed, the padlock will turn into a submit button. Find out more here.
A company’s Pending B Corp certification lasts for 1 year. After this point, the company will be eligible to apply for full B Corp certification.
An Assessment Review (also referred to as the verification or review process) is the process in which your assessment will be verified by B Lab's independent Standards Management Team. You can find out more about the different stages of the review process here.
After you have submitted your assessment, you will move into the Evaluation phase, where an Evaluation Analyst will perform a number of checks to ensure you are eligible for B Corp certification, and are on the right track of the assessment. You will only be contacted directly during this phase if the Evaluation Analyst has any questions or requires some more information from you.
You will then move on to the Verification phase, which usually includes one or more phone calls with a Standards Analyst to discuss any questions that they have about your assessment. This is also when you will be asked to provide additional information and evidence to support your answers as required. You can find information about the entire review process here.
You will only need to produce any documentation if your company chooses to apply for B Corp certification. If your company is simply using the assessment as a benchmarking tool, please ignore this step. The list of documentation requested depends on a company’s specific answers to the B Impact Assessment and is generated after a company initiates the review process with B Lab staff. For example, if the company answered that 35% of its ingredients are from recycled input materials, the company would be expected to show how it arrived at that answer either through a spreadsheet of all ingredients with specific recycled percentages or by submitting specific invoices that detail out ingredient characteristics.
To meet the performance requirement, a company must earn a minimum, verified score of 80 points on the B Impact Assessment (BIA). This can be through a combination of Operations questions and Impact Business Model (IBM) questions.
Operations questions focus on the operational performance of your company as it is managed and operated on a day to day basis, such as providing employee benefits, local purchasing policies, and recycling waste.
Impact Business Models go a level deeper by identifying and evaluating whether and how a company is designed to create specific positive social and / or environmental impact. Examples of IBM practices include poverty alleviation, or creating a fair trade supply chain. This section is a collection of best practices that are extremely rare but are a defining element of a company’s business model. Small elements of IBM type practices are likely mentioned in the other sections, but the IBM section allows the assessment to isolate these big picture goals and evaluate them at a much higher degree of detail.
Find out more about Operations and IBM scoring through the relevant links.
You can check on the status of your assessment at any time in the B Impact Assessment itself, by clicking on the ‘Reviews’ tab from the left-hand menu. Find out more here.
There are currently over 3,500 Certified B Corporations in more than 70 countries.
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 is part of the solution.
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:
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.
Yes, being a B Corp can help you scale.
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.
Yes! You can search for open positions at B Corporations using B Work, the world's largest impact jobs board.
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!