Measuring a company’s entire social and environmental impact through the B Corp Certification
The B Corp movement is building a new sector of the economy where the race is not about being the best company in the world – but about being the best company for the community, employees, customers and the natural environment.
Measuring the impact performance on society and the environment is done through B Impact Assessment (BIA), a unique and accessible tool for anyone, in which the relevant aspects of the impact are divided into 5 impact areas:
• Governance
• Employees
• Community
• Environment
• Customers
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.
As leaders in the movement for economic systems change, B Corps reap remarkable benefits. They build trust with consumers, communities, and suppliers; attract and retain employees; and draw mission-aligned investors. As they are required to undergo the verification process every three years in order to recertify, B Corps are by definition also focused on continuous improvement, leading to their long-term resiliency.
B Corp Certification is holistic, not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue. And the process to achieve and maintain certification is rigorous and requires engaging teams and departments across your company. Taking company size and profile into account, verification involves documentation of your company’s business model and information about your operations, structure, and various work processes, as well as review of potential public complaints and possible site visits.
How to become a B Corp
Register for the free and confidential B Impact Assessment.
Use the Legal Requirement Tool to determine how your company can integrate stakeholder consideration into your governance structure, which will depend on your location and corporate structure.
Complete the Risk Review and baseline requirements for multinational corporations if applicable.
Gather your supporting documentation and data, and get ready to record your answers.
Take the B Impact Assessment online. You can save and return to your assessment at any time.
Establish a company profile — you will be prompted once you fill out the majority of the Assessment – and start the Disclosure Questionnaire. At this point you will learn your baseline score; if it is under the 80-point benchmark, reevaluate and prioritize improvement areas.
If you’re over the 80-point benchmark, submit your B Impact Assessment for review.
You’ll next wait in the Evaluation Queue, as an analyst from our team reviews your company’s eligibility for B Corp Certification.
Once eligibility is determined, you enter the Evaluation phase. An analyst from B Lab Global will look over your company structure, any controversial industries, as well as your answers to the entire Assessment.
You’ll then enter the Verification Queue, where you’ll be asked to provide information about your employees and any suppliers.
During Verification, you’ll have your review call with an analyst, go through your verification report, and provide all documentation backing up your answers to the Assessment.
If you meet the verified 80-point threshold, you’ll enter the Post-Verification stage and sign the B Corp Agreement.
You’ve now reached Certification!
In order to meet the transparency requirement for B Corp Certification, you’ll need to publish your public profile in the B Corp Directory, including your company’s score and impact report.
Now it’s time to Launch!
Celebrate and share your B Corp status internally with employees, board members, and shareholders, and externally with suppliers, vendors, and the public.
The final step in your B Corp journey will last the longest.
You’ll prepare for recertification every three years, and use the B Impact Assessment and the certification process as a tool for continuous improvement.
New B Corp Standards
HAVE A LOOK AT THE NEW STANDARD: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/standards/performance-requirements/
B Lab’s new standards require businesses to take meaningful action across key social, environmental, and governance Impact Topic areas. By meeting these expectations, companies can demonstrate leadership in responsible business practices and impact management. These standards have been designed to enhance impact, provide clarity on what it means to be a leading business, and integrate feedback from various stakeholders over its development.
The new impact topic areas are:
- Purpose and Stakeholder Governance: Companies act in accordance with a defined purpose and embed stakeholder governance in decision making. By doing so, they contribute to an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system for all people and the planet.
- Fair Work: Companies provide good quality jobs and have positive workplace cultures.
- Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) Companies have inclusive and diverse workplaces and contribute to just and equitable communities.
- Human Rights: Companies treat people with dignity and respect their human rights.
- Climate Action : Companies take action to combat the climate crisis and its impacts.
- Environmental Stewardship and Circularity: Companies demonstrate environmental stewardship and contribute to the circular economy in their operations and value chain. They both minimize negative impacts, to help stay within ecological thresholds, and pursue positive impacts.
- Government Affairs and Collective Action: Companies play a leadership role in fostering shared understanding and implementing solutions toward an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative economy. This role includes a fair and responsible contribution to their operating countries’ economies and infrastructure.