Certified B Corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Unlike other certifications for businesses, B Lab is unique in their ability to measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact.
B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. In order to achieve certification, a company must:
- Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing our risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards.
- Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
- Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.
Recent research shows that B Corps out-perform their UK peers across several business metrics. Compared to data from surveys of UK SMEs, we found that B Corp SMEs have, on average:
- Faster growth in turnover and employee headcount and higher expectations about future growth
- Greater levels of employee retention, engagement and diversity
- More robust governance processes
- Greater focus on civic and community engagement
- Higher levels of innovation
- The same likelihood of success at securing external finance
Download a summary of their research here.
Their website provides guidance and support on the process of becoming a certified B Corp.
.png){kind=small}