There are now over 1,000 Certified B Corp companies in UK, one of the largest communities of sustainable businesses in the world.
B Corp (B Corporations) are businesses verified to high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
With the UN calling for transformational change to avoid climate disaster, now more than ever the UK needs business to act as a force for good. Household names that are part of the first 1,000 to have achieved B Corp status in the UK include Innocent Drinks, Jojo Maman Bébé, Baringa, Finisterre, Sipsmith and Simplyhealth, while a number of famous faces, including Jamie Oliver, Matthew Freud, Emma Bunton, Jaime Laing, and Bear Grylls, have also worked to certify their businesses.
B Corps are represented in all corners of the UK. At the end of last year, there was just 564 B Corps, now there are 1,000 – to put that into context that’s the same number of B Corps as the whole of mainland Europe. With over 500 B Corps, London is the city with the most B Corps in the world, and they can also be found in cities across the country including Bristol, Manchester, Brighton, Edinburgh and Cardiff. The furthest flung UK B Corp is Bruichladdich distillery on the southwestern tip of the remote Hebridean Island of Islay.
B Corps are strong performers. Compared to traditional businesses, B Lab UK data shows that B Corps have a faster growth in turnover (27 per cent vs five per cent) and employee headcount (14 per cent vs one per cent), greater levels of employee retention, engagement and diversity, higher levels of innovation and are more successful in securing equity finance (70 per cent vs 56 per cent).
B Corps deliver positive impact for all stakeholders. B Corps commit to measuring and managing their impact on workers, customers, and communities as well as shareholders. And this year 165 UK B Corps were honoured as Best for the World, a global measure of the highest impact B Corp businesses.
B Corps are equipped to step up to the scale of challenges we face. Mission-led businesses are more likely to be reducing the burden of the cost of living crisis for their employees, suppliers and local community than non-mission led businesses and take steps to reduce their impact on climate change and the environment.
B Corps are the proof behind the campaign to change the law with the Better Business Act. This is now backed by over 1,500 businesses. Seven in ten of the UK public believe business should have a legal responsibility to people and the planet, alongside maximising profit.
“Reaching 1,000 B Corporations in the UK shows that leadership is possible,” said Chris Turner, executive director at B Lab UK. “It is our privilege to be working with such a passionate community of businesses, who have been the loudest and proudest advocates for the way in which certification has helped them to ‘measure what matters’ and change the way their companies behave. But there’s still a long way to go. If we want B Corp to continue to represent the pioneers of better business, we must intentionally keep moving the goalposts and challenge ourselves to go further, faster.”
