What Does It Mean to Be a Certified B Corporation™?

During meetings of the B community, one of the members genuinely summarized what it means to be a B Corporation in a single word: GOOD.

Being a B Corporation means being an entity full of benefits for all those involved: society, the environment, employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, and the planet as a whole. This makes it a company that seeks to do Good, committed to continuously improving its impact through best practices, accountability, and legal and public alignment with the values of the global B movement.

B Corporations are defined as companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. They achieve this by setting objectives in an organized, measurable way, aligned with their business model.

Being a B Corporation means channeling the company’s results into the well-being of everyone involved in its operations. The certification serves as a seal that validates adherence to the right path. The certification process begins with the B Impact Assessment, a tool that evaluates five key areas for managing the B purpose within a business environment—helping to contribute to social and environmental well-being while remaining profitable. These five areas are: i) governance, ii) workers, iii) customers, iv) community, and v) environment.

The outcome of this assessment must meet a required score to proceed with verification by B Lab in collaboration with Sistema B. Once these stages are successfully completed, the company formalizes its commitment by signing the B Corporation Agreement and adjusting its corporate bylaws to align with impact-driven intentions.

Certifying companies under the B system builds trust in their genuine compliance with social and environmental standards, enhancing their competitiveness in a market where consumers increasingly value responsible and sustainable businesses. Additionally, certification enables strategic and collaborative partnerships with other companies prioritizing triple impact (financial, social, and environmental) in their value chain. Moreover, through the recertification process, which occurs every three years, companies demonstrate their continuous commitment to advancing global sustainability goals—working to meet present needs without compromising those of future generations.