What is B Corp certification?

Nowadays, companies want to become increasingly responsible, both socially and environmentally, but often do not know where to start or how to structure their approach. The B Corp movement is an excellent solution to make their practices more responsible, in a concrete and structured manner.

What is B Corp?

B Corp (Beneficial Corporation) is a certification granted to for-profit companies that meet the highest standards of social and environmental impact, ethical governance, and transparency to the public.

This certification was founded in 2006 in the United States in the state of Pennsylvania by B Lab, a nonprofit organization. It is also B Lab that conducts the audit for companies wishing to obtain the certification to evaluate the accuracy of the answers provided by them.

B Corp certification also stands out from other certifications offered to companies through the following points:

- It is the only certification that evaluates the entirety of a company's social and environmental performance.

- To maintain its certification, a company must recertify every 3 years. This way, organizations must continuously improve.

- Certified companies, those on the way to becoming certified, or even those interested in the movement, can benefit from a business community that gathers multiple times throughout the year.

How does B Lab evaluate a company's impact?

B Lab created the B Impact Assessment, a free online questionnaire of about 200 questions that allows companies to assess their own impact.  

The process is simple; organizations are invited to answer various questions across 5 distinct categories: ​​

1. governance
2. employees
3. community
4. environment
5. customers.

Note that starting in 2026, the current method will be replaced by an evaluation based on 10 standards to meet. To learn more.

What are the main advantages of being a B Corp company?

There are several advantages to being certified. Here are some you could benefit from:​

1. Meet the ESG requirements of major clients and financial partners (which are becoming increasingly strict)
2. Create a differentiating element across an industry
3. Facilitate the recruitment of new employees
4. Facilitate employee retention
5. Create business opportunities through the B Corp community
6. Enhance visibility and brand reputation
7. Enable responsible practices by following the highest standards of social and environmental impact.

How to become a B Corp company?

To obtain B Corp certification, a company must first achieve a minimum score of 80 out of 200 in the assessment. To do this, the organization must do the following:

- Create documentation (code of ethics, employee guide, etc.)

- Implement concrete initiatives (get involved with underprivileged communities, establish an onboarding process, etc.)

- Modify its legal documents to ensure that the company considers the well-being of its stakeholders and the growth of its profits equally.

The duration of the process varies between 8 and 12 months depending on the size of the company, its sector of activity, and its involvement in the certification process. Regarding the cost, it depends on the company's annual sales. The higher they are, the higher the annual cost of certification will be as well.​

Furthermore, only for-profit companies with at least one year in operation are eligible for certification. For young organizations with less than one year of activity, there is Pending B Corp (pending B Corp), which is a certification that allows young companies to draw inspiration from the best practices offered by B Corp during their startup period.

As for nonprofit organizations, they are not eligible for certification, but can still use and draw inspiration from the free online B Impact Assessment to make their practices more responsible.

Which companies are already certified B Corp?

There are currently more than 9,000 companies, over 400 of which are in Canada, that are certified B Corp across more than 75 countries. They all stand out in their industries for their good practices in social and environmental matters and their desire to redefine success in business. Here are a few examples.

Some B Corp certified companies in Quebec:
Prana
GenV
Ciele
LG2

Some internationally certified B Corp companies:
Patagonia
Danone
TOMS
Ben & Jerry’s

💡 Need help filling out your B Corp questionnaire? We would be happy to assist you for free for 30 minutes!

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Article written by Thomas, B Corp Consultant (he/him)