what's a b-corp?

If you are here, you might already know what a B-corp is. Still, in case you haven't heard of it, it's a certification that can be designated to a business meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving, to supply chain practices and input materials. Below are the requirements to achieve the certification from the B-Corp site:

• 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. 

• 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.  

B Lab, the non-profit network that certifies B Corporations, aims to shift the global economy from a system that profits few to one that benefits all: "advancing a new model that moves from concentrating wealth and power to ensuring equity, from extraction to generation, and from prioritizing individualism to embracing interdependencies." (B Lab) The certification recognizes those brands with the highest corporate social responsibility standards that use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

Below we have added in some of our favourite B-Corps:

1. Patagonia
2. Allbirds
3. Frank and Oak
4. Bombas
5. Tentree
6. United by Blue
7. Ben & Jerry's

Although B-Corps are a step in the right direction, they have been critiqued. The certification has been called general and is said to assist in greenwashing. Since a large part of the certification is self-reporting, there has been some doubt about its credibility. There have also been conversations on how some companies have become B-Corped, such as Evian, a company that sells water in single-use plastic bottles and Nespresso, which has had reports of human rights violations on the farms that grow their coffee.

It's safe to say the B-Corp certification is not perfect, and ideally, it shouldn't be necessary, and we believe its requirements are what corporations should be providing anyway. Since there is a fee to get a B-Corp certification, smaller companies still following the B-Corp standards may be unable to afford the annual licence fee. Our advice would be to do your research on the companies you support. If you have difficulty finding information about the company's processes, it might be time to steer away and look for organizations that keep their customers informed. Your purchase decisions have a significant impact on the kind of future we are going to live in. Keep yourself as informed as you can.

We are nowhere close to perfect, but we are trying our best! If you have any questions or concerns related to this article please reach out to us at sourcing@yannai.ca. Your feedback is valued and encouraged!