B Corp Certification

Practical informations for you to kick off your B Corp journey today!

The 5 Impact Areas Assessed by the B Corp Certification

Governance

A company’s overall mission, ethics, accountability, transparency and how they build their vision and values into their bylaws.

Workers

A businesses’ efforts to create positive impacts for their workforce.

Environment

How a company works towards a more sustainable and regenerative planet by reducing their footprint and putting their impact on the air, climate, water, land, and biodiversity first in their business practices.

Community

How a business contributes to the economic and social well-being of the communities in which they operate.

Customers

How a company serves their customers, offering products or services that support the greater good.

What are the requirements for the B Corp certification?

First, companies must achieve a minimum score of 80 points on the B Impact Assessment and undergo a verification process to confirm their eligibility for certification. More information about the B Impact Assessment is available here.

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In addition to meeting performance criteria, companies seeking B Corp certification must also amend their legal governing documents to reflect their commitment to considering the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders, in their decision-making processes. This legal requirement helps ensure that B Corps prioritize social and environmental impact alongside financial considerations in their operations. More information about the legal requirement is available here.

Finally, companies have to commit to 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.

The different certification approaches

Standard Approach
The standard certification approach is used for the vast majority of certifying companies. All companies under €100MM in annual revenue will be on the standard approach, regardless of company complexity factors.

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Large Enterprises
The Large Enterprise Approach (LEA) is applicable to companies who have over €100MM in annual revenue and have material complexity factors that will impact the company’s B Corp Certification pathway. Most companies with consolidated annual revenues between €1B — €5B must be on the LEA. Learn more about the Large Entreprise Approach.

Pending Status
Start up: Companies that have been operating for fewer than 12 months are eligible for Pending B Certification. Learn more about Pending B Corp Certification.

Eligibility criteria

A company must be a for-profit business and have been in operation for at least 12 months to be eligible for B Corp Certification.

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B Corp is a company-level certification intending to capture the impacts of a business’ operations. B Corp Certification applies to independently operating businesses or Complete and Distinct subsidiaries, and does not apply to brands or divisions of a business.

Pricing

The costs related to the B Corp Certification depend on the company’s revenue. View price breakdown here.

Recertifying as a B Corp?

B Corps must validate they still meet B Corp Certification requirements and undergo verification of their sustainability performance every three years, or after a Change of Control (of company ownership) or Initial Public Offering. In order to engage with the Recertification review process, all recertifying B Corps must submit their updated B Impact Assessment no later than six months before their Recertification date, indicated on the Dashboard of the B Impact Assessment platform.

B Corps can find resources to help with this and other topics in the B Community Platform!