B Lab updates B Corp certification requirements and makes significant changes

After over three years of consultation and development, B Lab (the non-profit network and administrator of B Corp certification) recently released new certification standards (the “Revised Standards”) intended to strengthen accountability and clarity for B Corps. 

Companies seeking new certification will be required to use the Revised Standards from 2026 onwards. 

The Revised Standards introduce significant changes to the way B Corps are certified (and recertified) going forward, with major impacts for the almost 10,000 strong network of B Corps. 

The key changes are summarised in the rest of this blog post.

Key takeaways  

• Companies will need to meet more tailored (and higher) impact assessment standards when certifying using the Revised Standards. 
• It will not be enough to meet these standards when certification is approved, companies will also have to meet evolving standards over time to show continuous improvement. 
• Generating more than 1% revenue from certain activities, including fossil fuel production, will rule out eligibility for B Corp certification.
• Companies seeking new certification will be required to use the Revised Standards from 2026 onwards, with some nuances to timing for recertifying companies. 
• B Lab consider the current B Corp regime to be non-compliant with incoming rules on sustainability labels under the EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive. Companies that want to use B Corp certification when selling/supplying products in the EU will need to certify (or re-certify) on the Revised Standards before 27 September 2026. The B Corp certification process can take a while (minimum 6 months – 1 year) so this does not give companies a lot of time to ensure compliance with the incoming EU rules. 

From broad point scoring to tailored minimum requirements 

To become certified as a B Corp, companies need to meet certain standards of verified environmental and social performance, public transparency and legal accountability. 

As part of the B Corp certification process, companies are required to review and fill out an online impact assessment. Previously, companies needed to score 80 out of 200 points across five impact areas to pass this assessment (with no threshold for points required in a specific area). 

Now the standard points threshold has been removed in place of a more flexible regime where companies will be subject to different assessment requirements based on their size and sector (referred to as “Impact Topic Requirements”). 

In response to stakeholder criticism on the certification process, including the ability of certain large corporations being able to obtain certification, these changes are intended to introduce more rigorous performance requirements applying to all B Corps (with larger companies having to meet higher requirements for verification, transparency and additional factors). 

The existing five impact areas have been replaced with the following seven areas (some of which overlap with the previous regime): 

• Purpose and Stakeholder Governance (“PSG”)
• Fair Work
• Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
• Human Rights
• Climate Action
• Environmental Stewardship and Circularity (“ESC”)
• Government Affairs and Collective Action

Changes have been made to some of the old criteria sitting under these areas (for further detail, see this B corp summary).

B Lab has also introduced an “equity mechanism” to distinguish certain countries and territories with “operational barriers”, allowing some companies to opt out of 10-15% of sub-requirements depending on where they are based. Further information on how each country and territory is classified under the equity mechanism can be found here.

New continuous improvement requirements 

One of the criticisms of the B Corp regime was that requirements on continuous improvement (via the recertification process) were not prescriptive and were not always effective in incentivising improved performance for certified companies. 

The Revised Standards now integrate mandatory improvement actions under which companies will have to comply with “Year 0” requirements to start and then a different set of requirements for “Year 3” and “Year 5”. 

To maintain certification, companies will need to continually comply with all applicable sub-requirements from the time they become effective (i.e. in Year 3, a company must continue to comply with the Year 0 sub-requirements as well as meeting the Year 3 sub-requirements; and similarly in Year 5, it must continue to comply with the Year 0 and Year 3 sub-requirements as well as meeting the Year 5 sub-requirements). 

Updates to “Foundation Requirements”

Existing requirements on eligibility and stakeholder governance have been re-labelled as “Foundation Requirements” (but otherwise remain unchanged). 

Two new features have been added to this category: 

• A new risk assessment requirement for all companies (except those without workers and micro companies) to create online risk profiles using B Lab’s online tool. The tool will then determine whether additional due diligence requirements need to be met as part of the certification process (particularly in PSG, ESC and Human Rights). This is intended to ensure that due diligence expectations are proportionate to the company’s risk profile and size. A summary of each B Corp’s risk profile will be displayed on its public profile. 
• Companies will not be eligible for B Corp certification at all if they generate 1% or more of their annual revenue from “causing or contributing to the impacts on affected stakeholders” of the following industries: 
  • Fossil fuel production
  • Gambling
  • Pornography
  • Prisons and detention centres (including prison or detention centre labour)
  • Tobacco
  • Weapons
• Previously, companies were ineligible if they were “materially involved” in these activities but there were no revenue thresholds. This is a new introduction under the Revised Standards and applies to the certifying company and any other entities within the scope of certification (e.g. where a corporate group is certified). Specific rules apply to the following corporations: 
  • Financial services companies will be eligible if less than 1% of the company’s assets under management are in the listed industries. 
  • Electric utilities and power generation companies will be eligible if less than 50% of their product portfolio or energy mix comes from fossil fuels. 
  • The definition of “contributing to impacts on affected stakeholders” includes selling products or services that are tailored for the industry or the client including marketing, advertising, branding, consulting, legal and other professional services. Accordingly, firms offering these services will also be ineligible if over 1% of their annual revenue is generated from the listed industries. 

Impact on recertification timing 

Companies with recertification dates on or before 31 December 2025 must submit their impact assessment by 30 June 2025 in order to certify using the current standards. 

Companies that miss this deadline, or that have recertification dates between 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026, will be required to recertify using the Revised Standards but will receive a 12-month extension to their current recertification date. Accordingly, B Lab is advising these companies to pause any current work on updating their impact assessment under the current standards and start to prepare for recertification in line with the Revised Standards. 

These companies will also be able to complete a self-assessment in B Impact against the Year 0 sub-requirements to help identify areas for improvement and consider the actions that need to be taken to meet the Revised Standards. This will be a new step in the new recertification process and further details on how to complete this are expected to be shared by B Lab before 1 July 2025. 

Companies with recertification dates from 2027 onwards will recertify on the Revised Standards. 

Impact of EU Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive  

As a reminder, the EU Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive ("ECD") introduces new rules that (among other things) prohibit the use of sustainability labels in claims connected with selling, supplying or products to consumers in the EU unless they are: (i) based on official certification schemes; or (ii) established by public authorities. (For more information on the ECD, see our previous briefing.)

From 27 September 2026, companies will need to ensure that that any certification schemes used in this manner meet minimum requirements regarding transparency and credibility under the amended Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. 

In one of B Lab’s FAQs on the Revised Standards, B Lab notes that the current B Corp standards do not comply with the requirements of the ECD. As a result, companies selling products into the EU and that intend to use the B Corp logo on their products or claim B Corp certification should start self-assessing against the Revised Standards as early as possible and working towards meeting the Revised Standards. B Corp certification is known for being a long process (at least 6 months – 1 year based on the current regime). This will likely be even longer when the first companies start to use the Revised Standards. 

B Lab is working on certification pathways that enable companies to be certified on the Revised Standards by September 2026 and will issue more details on this in due course. 

B Lab also expects to release an updated brand book in January 2026 which will contain guidance on displaying the B Corp mark, taglines and certification-related claims. 

Further information 

The Revised Standards include further detail on the Foundation and Impact Topic Requirements. 

The B Lab Knowledge Base (which can be accessed here) includes articles on frequently asked questions about the Revised standards and guidance for B Corps due to recertify in 2025 or 2026. 

Existing B Corps can also log in to the B Impact platform to understand how the Revised Standards apply to them. 

For more information on basic principles around B Corp certification, see our previous blog post (note that this was drafted based on the current standards).