Becoming a B Corp just got harder. Now it’s time for us all to get to work.
Chris Turner reflects on the next phase of the B Corp movement’s transformation as the seventh version of the B Corp Standards for Certification is released into the world.
For the past five years, we’ve all been navigating profound change. For the B Corp movement, 2020 ushered in an era of growth beyond our expectations. While businesses were adapting to the changes and challenges of lockdown, they also recognised this as a moment to question their true purpose and place in society.
In the years since that moment, we have changed the conversation about what it means to be a good business. B Corp Certification has become respected and recognised as distinguishing the businesses that embody these principles.
Crucially, our community has unleashed a wave of innovation in pursuit of positive impact — from exploring governance models, such as putting nature on the board, to open-sourcing supply chain models and employee ownership. During this year’s B Corp Month alone, we saw UK B Corps hold nearly 100 events to help other businesses further their social and environmental progress.
There are now over 2,500 B Corps in the UK, more than in any other country, consisting of a remarkable diversity of businesses. Yet this growth hasn’t come without its challenges. At B Lab UK, we have felt the pressure to keep up with the surge in demand, reaffirming our own commitment to improving and innovating in response to feedback.
This movement has accelerated progress that benefits us all. Many more businesses have committed to being better, and in turn, we have raised the bar for what good looks like. The standards that defined excellence in 2020 have now become more achievable, and we all expect more of business with increased clarity of what good looks like now and in the future.
The new B Corp standards set out to meet these challenges. They will not mould B Corps into perfect businesses — such businesses do not exist — but they will provide a greater understanding about what it means to be a B Corp, and a much clearer pathway for ongoing improvement.
These standards arrive at a moment when we see the real possibility of progress stalling on some of the most important challenges we face. The breaking of consensus on the need to urgently transition our economy, for example, could become the greatest missed opportunity of our lifetimes. At this moment, and in tackling these challenges together, visible leadership from business has never been more important.
It’s in this context that we are introducing the new standards for B Corp Certification. This is the sixth time the standards have evolved, marking the greatest leap forward for B Corp Certification to date.
They are the culmination of four years of consultation with businesses, academics and industry experts, totalling more than 26,000 pieces of stakeholder feedback. Your engagement and collaboration have been integral to this process, and we are grateful for your patience.
The new standards move us away from a model in which businesses choose where to focus their impact, towards one in which there are minimum requirements that businesses must meet. They also turn continuous improvement from a principle of the movement into a non-negotiable to retain certification and include stronger requirements for eligibility of businesses in industries hindering progress towards our goals — and those serving them.
In doing so, they raise the bar once again so that being a B Corp remains a model to inspire progress and so that we can collectively show that a more inclusive, regenerative, and equitable economy is possible. Visible leadership from business in tackling the challenges faced by our world has never been more crucial.
In the UK, some changes we believe will be most impactful include strengthened governance measures to deter greenwashing, clear action plans to support limiting global warming to 1.5°C and a new requirement for B Corps to work together on collective action that creates positive social and environmental outcomes. Among other changes, larger businesses will need to declare their tax policies, undertake deeper human rights diligence and enable the collective voice of their employees by supporting unionisation or equivalents.
You can explore the standards themselves here.
It means it’s time for us all to get to work. This will be hard. Many B Corps won’t be meeting all of the requirements just yet, and we will need to ensure that employees and customers also understand that the standards have changed, why they have, and what this means. Alongside the new B Impact platform, we are also producing guidance and resources, supported by realistic timelines, to help B Corps meet these ambitious new goals and communicate these changes.
This is where our extraordinary community of B Corps, B Leaders, collaborators and allies will be invaluable in supporting one another in the months and years ahead.
This is a lot of work. But we know that it will be worth it, and that B Corps will rise to this challenge in pursuit of our shared mission of seeing every business become a force for good.
The challenges facing people and the planet will not be met without taking this leap forward together. Leadership is never static, and B Corps must once again go beyond expectations to show what is possible, and necessary.
As we enter a new era of B Corp Certification, I’ve never been more convinced that, together, we can ensure every business acts as a force for good. Thank you for being part of this journey.