Navigating the shelves in search for sustainable or ethical products is hard. You cannot know the business practices behind every surface cleaner, clothing brand, or chocolate bar you come across. This is where third party certifications come in handy. It is someone unrelated to the product or service provider who tells you, the buyer, that this company is balancing profit with a social and/ or environmental commitment. Some famous examples are the Fairtrade logo and FSC for sustainable forestry, but there is a rising star in this category – B Corp certification. But what does this logo even mean, and does it really help you as a consumer?
What Does B Corp Stand For?
B Corp certification is granted to companies that meet a certain standard of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. This global program was started by B Lab, an American not-for-profit organisation, with the goal of promoting a new kind of capitalism that serves all stakeholders, including employees, communities, and the environment, instead of focusing only on profits. The B in this case stands for ‘Benefit for all’.
How could a company not want to wear this badge of honour? A great deal of status and reputation is attached to it and it serves as a promise to customers that they are supporting ethical businesses.
B Lab has been ambitious from the start and have set tough objectives for themselves and the global business community. Just a few months ago they started the process of overhauling their system to make it better and hold members to a higher standard of accountability.
The Old B Corp Certification Process
Getting this certification was already hard. Passing the assessment is time-consuming and can be resource intensive depending on the size and complexity of an organisation. Unilever ANZ got certified after a two-year process (or maybe it was an ordeal?) with a dedicated team that grew from eight to 20 in that time. A small business looking to boost their reputation would have far less to prove than a multinational like Unilever, but may not have the time or manpower to dedicate to this process.
Businesses must complete a detailed assessment that may be followed up by site visits and requests for additional information. The old B Corp assessment evaluates companies across five areas:
- Governance: Examines the leadership’s commitment to ethical practices, decision-making processes, and accountability to stakeholders.
- Workers: Evaluates how the company treats its employees. It covers benefits, working conditions, compensation, and opportunities for professional development.
- Community: Looks at the way the company engages with surrounding communities, supports local development, and addresses issues like poverty, inequality, and access to resources.
- Environment: Here the company’s resource use (water, energy, raw materials), waste management, carbon emissions, and the overall sustainability of the company’s operations and supply chain are evaluated.
- Customers: This area evaluates the company’s commitment to providing value to customers through quality, fairness, and transparency, as well as consumer well-being.
Sounds great, right? There is just one problem. Each area has a maximum score of 40, so the assessment has a total of 200 points. A company needs to score only 80 out of 200, making 40% the passing grade. This means that a company does not necessarily need to perform well in all five areas and can even perform poorly in some. There are a few companies with a murky past that began receiving passing scores, most notably, Nespresso.
The Controversial B Corp Certification Status of Nespresso
Nespresso coffee farms have had some serious human rights issues, including child labour and wage theft, and the popular single-use coffee pods are landing in landfills by the billions. The sheer volume of this waste product is so polluting that the city of Hamburg, Germany, banned all coffee pods from its government buildings in 2016. But Nespresso Global still managed to get B Corp certification in 2022. B Lab’s reputation took a hit after this.
Nespresso has been making an effort to do better, a trend that I hope will continue. It has been working towards better support for coffee farmers alongside the Rainforest Alliance. And there is a recycling scheme in place that is easy for consumers to participate in.
But the Nespresso pod’s user-friendly design and popularity is, unfortunately, a big part of a big environmental problem. And the question of whether this multinational is doing enough to be B Corp certified is valid.
In 2023, Nespresso recorded a global recycling rate of 33% in its 2023 Positive Cup Progress Document. Recycling rates for Australia are unavailable, and there is just one recycling plant in Nowra, NSW, that has partnered with Nespresso to recycle pods from the Australian market. In 2019, the North West Star reported that 3 million coffee pods are used a day by Australians – over 1 billion pods a year. So, the percentage of pods recycled is a big issue.
So should Nespresso be B Corp certified? They passed the test, so B Lab has little grounds to deny them the use of the logo. B Lab has been around now for almost 20 years and has become tremendously popular and are now overhauling their certification system for a higher standard of accountability.
The New B Corp Standards
Recertification of all B Corp Members is currently underway and set to be completed by September 2026. Under the new system companies will no longer be able to compensate for poor performance in one of the assessment areas by doing well in another. Members will now need to meet a minimum standard in 7 Impact Topics.
- Purpose & Stakeholder Governance
- Fair Work
- Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
- Human Rights
- Climate Action
- Environmental Stewardship & Circularity
- Government Affairs & Collective Action
The minimum requirements that a company must meet will differ depending on size, sector, and industry. There will be a range of 20 to 124 requirements that must be certified. The new standards will also make continuous improvement mandatory.
The old system applies until the recertification of the B Corp community members is complete. It will be interesting for consumers to see how the new system will change and if all members will be able to live up to its standards.
What is Good About B Corp Certification?
While the overhaul is welcome, there are still some fundamental things I like about B Lab.
1. B Corp Certification Test Scores Are Available Online
You can see just how well a business performed on their assessment. If we use Nespresso as an example, they hold a score of 84.3 as of 24/ 10/ 2025. And we can also see how a business performed in each area. You can check on the performances of these businesses at any time and decide for yourself if you think they did good enough for you to buy the product.
For interest’s sake, here is how my favourite chocolate brand, Tony’s Chocolonely performed. This company has a big emphasis on ending worker exploitation in the cocoa industry right from its first days. They have a score of 125.
2. There Are Ineligible Industries that B Corp Community Members Cannot Participate in or Work With
B Lab has a Theory of Change that certain industries are inherently at odds with. This is why B Corp members cannot participate in or sell goods or services to the following:
- Fossil fuel producers
- Gambling companies
- Pornography producers
- Prisons and detention centres
- Tobacco and other nicotine products producers
- Weapons and defence industries
Applicants who sell goods and services to charity lotteries, debt collection agencies in emerging markets, nuclear power or radioactive materials producers, mining companies, pharmaceutical companies, and recreational marijuana producers face increased scrutiny in the application process. B Lab considers these controversial industries that are susceptible to adverse or negative impacts, such as human rights violations or environmental degradation.
3. Anyone With a Computer Can Launch a Complaint About B Corp Certification Holders Breaching B Lab’s Values
B Corp membership can be revoked. This was the case for the French advertising and public relations group, Havas, after they won the media account for Shell in September 2023. The Clean Creatives, a group of advertising and PR professionals that wants their industry to cut ties with fossil fuel producers, made a complaint to B Lab about this new contract. Their complaint was successful and Havas’s B Corp status was revoked in July 2024.
4. B Corp Members Have to Re-certify Every Three Years
This involves updating the business’s B Impact Assessment at least six months prior to the recertification date to allow time for B Lab to verify the changes. Businesses must also re-certify any time there is a change in control and/ or ownership.
So Should You Buy B Corp Certified Products?
The B Corp logo is a powerful marketing tool and status symbol for businesses – one that they had to earn and, in some cases, may have been a case of them acing an exam rather than a true reflection of a company’s impact in the world. The old system does not tell us what a business is doing to make a difference. Other third-party certifications, like the Fairtrade logo, serve this purpose better.
What the logo does indicate is that a business has been externally audited for everything beyond profit, which is a brave thing to do for those in charge. But the system did need an overhaul so that it can help consumers make informed decisions, I look forward to comparing the B Corp before and after.
Third-party certifications are a pointer in the right direction for consumers, but not a substitute for discretion. If the issue of overflowing landfills is important to you, you know that it is better to get coffee beans or grounds instead of relying on coffee pods to get you out the door in the morning.