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B Lab launches new global standards for better business

Geraldine Grones
April 16, 2025

The nonprofit has unveiled new B Corp Certification standards to inspire business action on the world’s critical social and environmental issues.

With the worsening climate crisis and growing societal inequality, the B Corp standards provide clarity on how companies can take meaningful and tangible action on issues facing people and the planet, raising the bar for all businesses.

The new standards, B Lab’s seventh iteration, build on the success of the global B Corp movement, driving businesses to scale impact towards shared social and environmental goals. These come as the B Corp community nears a significant milestone — a groundswell of almost 10,000 companies across 100 countries, employing nearly 1 million workers in 160 industries.

“For the last 20 years, B Corps have been leaders globally in demonstrating you can be sustainable, ethical and profitable,” B Lab AANZ CEO Andrew Davies said. “The new standards are more than an update; they mark a complete reimagining of business impact to meet the challenges of our time. After four years, two public consultations, and more than 26,000 pieces of feedback from businesses, the public and experts, we’re confident that the new standards are clear, ambitious, and capable of raising the bar for businesses worldwide.”

B Lab has introduced requirements that all B Corps must meet across seven critical impact topics:

Purpose & stakeholder governance
Climate action
Human rights
Fair work
Environmental stewardship and circularity
Justice, equity, diversity & inclusion
Government affairs & collective action

Recognising the increasing regulatory complexity and mounting pressure to retreat from climate and social justice initiatives facing businesses today, B Lab’s new standards incorporate data and methodologies from other certification schemes, sustainability-related frameworks and disclosure reporting (including GRI, SBTi and Fairtrade), enabling companies to focus on operating for the benefit of all stakeholders.

While B Corp Certification affirms that a business meets high standards of social and environmental performance, continuous improvement is necessary. Under the new B Corp standards, businesses must demonstrate impact improvement over time, including 3-year and 5-year milestones, empowering leaders to continue driving meaningful progress throughout their B Corp journey.

“B Lab’s standards provide a powerful framework to model what good business looks like, offering a comprehensive blueprint for companies to transform the global economy that prioritises people and planet, alongside profit. At their core, the new standards support businesses to measure what matters and accelerate the positive change our world needs now more than ever,” Davies added.

Geraldine Grones

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Geraldine is currently the Content Producer for Third Sector, an Akolade channel. Throughout her career, she has written for various industries and international audiences. Her love for writing extends beyond the corporate world, as she also works as a volunteer writer at her local church. Aside from writing, she is also fond of joining fun runs and watching musicals.