Guidance for all B Corps due to recertify in 2025/2026

Background and Context 

In December 2020, B Lab announced a review of the performance requirements for B Corp Certification in response to community and stakeholder feedback about evolving leadership in social and environmental performance. Following input from over 1000 stakeholders, the new standards address today’s most urgent social and environmental challenges, providing clear and impactful requirements for companies to demonstrate leadership and drive systemic change.

We want to give the B Corp community the opportunity to begin working towards the new standards as soon as possible. Given the diversity within our community, B Corps will follow different routes to recertify on the new standards based on their recertification date, size and complexity. B Lab is committed to supporting B Corps in their efforts to meet the new standards in a structured way. 

At the heart of B Corp Certification is continuous improvement. We’re not striving for perfection, but progress. The sub-requirements of the new standards are structured in phases, guiding companies on a journey of continuous improvement over a number of years. 

To achieve initial certification, companies must meet a set of sub-requirements, progressing to meet additional sub-requirements in Year 3 and Year 5. To maintain their B Corp certification, companies must continually meet all applicable sub-requirements from the time they become effective. Learn more here.

Scope and Applicability

This policy applies to the following groups of B Corps: 

• Small, Small-Medium, and Medium Enterprises:

  • With recertification due dates in 2025/2026 

• Large Enterprises and Multinational Companies: 

  • With recertification due dates in 2025/2026 

Please note that companies certifying for the first time are not covered by this policy. For further information for requirements relating to this group, please see the Frequently Asked Questions.

Companies with recertification dates in 2027 should expect to recertify on the new standards on their current recertification date. More information on the certification journey will be provided from Q3 2025.

This policy will take effect from April 8, 2025. Subsequent updates will be communicated to companies with recertification dates beyond December 31, 2026.

Resources and Related Documents

For further information and resources, please refer to the following: 

• Frequently Asked Questions on B Lab’s New Standards 

• Achieving the new standards through continuous improvement  

Glossary

• B Corp: A company that has been verified under the current standards (Version 6)  of the B Impact Assessment and scored 80 or above.  

• Certification: Certification is an independent audit of a company’s compliance with a set of standards. 

• Extension: An extension is an additional amount of time past a B Corp’s established recertification date, granted to enable the company to appropriately prepare itself for recertification on the new standards. B Corps will be expected to submit their assessment on the new standards for verification by their extended recertification date. 

• Large Enterprise Approach: one of B Lab’s certification approaches designed for companies that generate more than $100MM USD in annual revenue with 10 or more subsidiaries operating in multiple countries or generate more than $1B in annual revenue. For more information on current certification approaches, see this article. 

• New Standards: This refers to B Lab’s new standards, published on April 8, 2025. The new standards consist of Foundation Requirements and seven Impact Topics. You can learn more about the new standards here.

• Small, Small-Medium and Medium Enterprises: Within B Lab’s certification approaches, Small and Medium Enterprises are companies that generate an annual revenue less than $100MM USD, or generate more than $100M USD in annual revenue with typically fewer than 10 subsidiaries or that operate in a single market. For more information on current certification approaches, see this article.

• Sub-Requirements: This refers to the specific requirements that a company must fulfill to achieve certification. The sub-requirements will depend on a company’s size, sector, industry and geographical location. Learn more here. 

• Recertification Date (Small, Small-Medium and Medium Enterprises only): The date by which B Corps are expected to complete the verification on Version 6 of the standards and B Impact Assessment, in order to maintain their B Corp Certification. If following Route 2, this is the date by which B Corps must submit their updated self-assessment for review. 

• Recertification Route: The steps that companies must take in order to go from being certified on Version 6 of the standards to recertifying on the new standards.

• Version 6: The version of the Standards for B Corp Certification updated in January 2019, spanning five impact areas. These standards are found in the B Impact Assessment and have been used for certification. They will be superseded by the new standards from April 2025.