What does B Corp certification actually mean?
Short answer
B Corp certification means a company scored at least 80 out of 200 on B Lab's impact assessment across governance, workers, community, environment and customers, had that score verified, and changed its legal documents to require directors to consider all stakeholders — not only shareholders.
The detail
The assessment is company-wide rather than product-specific, so a B Corp can still sell a product with a mediocre footprint. The score is public on bcorporation.net, which is unusual transparency: you can see exactly where a brand earned and lost points.
Recertification happens every three years and the bar rises over time. A handful of companies have been suspended or removed after controversies, which makes the certificate revocable rather than permanent — a meaningful difference from most self-declared claims.
At a glance
- Covers
- Governance, worker treatment, community impact, environment, customer stewardship.
- Doesn't cover
- Individual product ingredients, a specific factory, or animal testing policy.
- Verify it
- Search the brand on B Lab's public directory and read the score breakdown, not just the badge.