Best for the World - Discontinued from 2023

Best for the World, the annual celebration of B Corps achieving verified high scores across the five pillars of the B Impact Assessment, will be discontinued from 2023.

During the 10 years the program ran, Best for the World was regarded as a motivating force for B Corp certified businesses to get recognized for their leadership and impact, and we know this decision will be disappointing for many. We also hear lots of constructive feedback each year about how to improve it and other ways to define or recognize the highest-impact B Corps in our community.

As B Lab continues to evolve our standards in a way that meaningfully demonstrates the leadership role that B Corps and the B Corp movement should play in the world, we must also evolve our campaigns and programmes. 

The Best for the World B Corps over the years represent some of the most admirable examples of business as a force for good across the world. Undoubtedly, their leadership, best practices, and guidance will continue to be a great source of inspiration for our movement and beyond – and you can continue to search and find out more about them in the public B Corp Directory.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What was Best for the World?

Best for the World (BFTW) was a program run by B Lab to recognize the top-performing Certified B Corporations (B Corps) globally that achieved the highest verified scores in the B Corp certification process. Best for the World 2022 was the final edition of the program.

• Why was Best for the World discontinued?

As the B Corp standards evolve, so our campaigns and programmes must also evolve. Over the years, we've heard positive feedback about Best for the World as a motivating force for B Corp certified businesses to be recognized for their leadership and impact. We've also had lots of constructive feedback that it could be simpler, that the criteria could be strengthened, and that there might be other ways to define or recognize the highest-impact businesses in the community. We'd like to take all this feedback on board in designing what comes next.

Alongside this, acknowledging the need to rethink Best for the World, B Lab will focus on supporting the B Corp community as we transition towards the new standards over the next year and beyond. 

• Can B Corps recognized as Best for the World in previous years continue communicating it and displaying the graphic badges associated with the recognition?

Yes. The Best for the World programme was run according to specific circumstances during precious years, and therefore what the recognition denotes is that, at a specific point in time, a B Corp met the criteria established in that particular year to be recognized as Best for the World.  

• Will current references to the Best for the World program be removed from bcorporation.net and other websites?

The discontinuation of the program won't have retroactive implications. This means that, at least for the foreseeable future, the lists from previous years will not be removed from bcorporation.net. The filters and identification on the B Corp directory will not be removed either. 

• Can B Corps run their own data analysis and claim to be Best for the World in 2023?

No. The Best for the World program relied on a methodology that requires a specific dataset to be analyzed by B Lab at a specific point in time. Although most elements of this dataset, like companies' size tracks and scores, are publicly available, B Lab will not run the analysis considering the full eligibility criteria.

• Will there be a similar initiative to replace Best for the World?

B Lab is exploring opportunities to continue fostering the principles of impact improvement, recognition of exemplary practices, and promoting knowledge exchange between B Corps. The B Corp community is invited to bring forward ideas to co-create future initiatives by contacting their regional teams or filling out this form.