When it comes to businesses seeking to adopt the Human-Powered Business model, there is perhaps nothing more powerful than becoming certified B Corporation. But while you might have heard of "B Corps," as they're often called, or seen the logo on some of your favorite products, but it's not always clear what it means.
In essence, certified B Corporations have established a commitment to accountability and transparency for business practices that put the wellbeing of people and communities, the health of our home planet, and the profit engine that makes it all possible on equal footing when it comes to measuring success. New Belgium became the first craft brewery to achieve B Corp certification back in 2013, and we haven't looked back. You can check out our score and read our full impact assessment here.
The certification is governed by an organization called B Lab, which describes B Corp certification like this:
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.
FLEX YOUR ECONOMIC POWER TO SUPPORT B CORPS
Making purchasing decisions based on B Corp certification is one of the simplest ways you can support the movement for Human-Powered Business in your everyday life. To get started, click the link below to search the fast-growing list of certified B Corps.
