B Corp Month 2023 | Press Release
B Corps “Go Beyond” Business as Usual for B Corp Month 2023
Amsterdam, 1 March 2023 — Today, B Lab Europe announces the start of B Corp Month 2023, its annual campaign celebrating Certified B Corporations (B Corps) around the world. This year’s theme, “We Go Beyond” (#WeGoBeyond), presents the community of B Corps who “go beyond” the status quo and take action to transform the economic system.
Throughout the month, B Corps around the world will invite their stakeholders to understand how and why B Corps have chosen to pursue a more impactful path, and showcase that the B Corp Certification isn’t just a mark; it’s a global movement of people going beyond business as usual to make their mark on the world. The campaign will be activated by the more than 6,400 Certified B Corps – over 2,000 of them in Europe (including the UK) – across 88 countries and 159 industries and representing more than 500,000 workers; and B Lab’s B Global Network, the unified group of global, regional, and national organizations that power the B Corp movement at the local level.
In the past year alone, the European community grew by 63% and is now present in 27 countries across the continent. Certified B Corporations range in size and industry, forming a unique and diverse learning community that exchanges knowledge and solutions, and holds each other accountable.
“Whether you are already part of the B Corp movement or not, B Corp Month is a moment to discover what’s possible when businesses think beyond profit,” says Juliette Caulkins, Executive Director of B Lab Europe. “When leaders are equipped with the tools and standards to support them in redefining their business success by putting social and environmental impact on par with profit, they can become the changemakers who drive large-scale change. And it doesn’t stop there. Beyond certification, we need to reset the rules of the game so all businesses behave with purpose, accountability, and transparency. We do this by advocating for policy change in the EU parliament and by catalyzing partnerships between B Corps like the B Corp Beauty Coalition that transform entire industries. This is the systematic change we seek and need right now.”
Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet high standards of positive social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B Corp Certification doesn’t just evaluate a product or service, it assesses the overall social and environmental impact of the company that stands behind it. To achieve B Corp Certification, a company must meet a score of at least 80 points on the B Impact Assessment, an evaluation of a company’s positive impact, and pass a risk review, an evaluation of a company’s negative impact; change their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders; and exhibit transparency by allowing information about their B Corp Certification performance to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab Global’s website.
More information on B Corp Month 2023 can be found here.
Download this press release as a PDF here.
Key Messages
What is B Corp Month?
B Corp Month is the annual celebration of all Certified B Corporations around the world. Each March, B Corps from all sizes and industries highlight and educate on their impact journey across all of their stakeholders — their workers, customers, community, and the environment. Embracing this type of decision-making and value-creation for all is called Stakeholder Governance and is not only mandatory for all B Corps but is also the kind of sweeping systemic change we need. During B Corp Month, we celebrate B Corps as the pioneers of this economic system’s transformation.
What is this year’s theme?
This year’s B Corp Month theme is ‘We Go Beyond’, showing you why and how B Corp-certified companies go beyond business as usual by pursuing a more impactful path.
How long has B Corp month existed?
The idea for the month-long campaign was originated by a group of passionate B Corps who brought the idea to B Lab in 2016. The first B Corp month was held in 2017.
What are the highlights of this year’s B Corp Month?
Visit the official B Corp Month page and follow B Lab Europe’s social media channels for updates!
What makes B Corps different from regular businesses?
B Corps demonstrate high social and environmental performance. B Corps must achieve a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and pass a risk review, make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.
B Corp Movement Key Facts
- A Growing Community: The global B Corp community has doubled since 2020. There are now over 6,400 B Corps across 88 countries and 159 industries. 48 of all B Corps are publicly traded companies. Find a B Corp here!
- The Ripple Effect: Over 500,000 workers worldwide are employed by B Corps.
- Accountability: When becoming a B Corp, each company makes a mandatory commitment to consider the company’s impact on all its stakeholders by building it into its legal structure. In addition, more than 60% of B Corps tie executive leadership compensation to achieving specific social and environmental metrics.
- Beyond B Corps: Today, more than 240,000 companies around the world are using B Lab’s B Impact Assessment to measure and manage their impact.
About the B Corp Movement in Europe
- Going beyond borders: There are now over 1,200 B Corps in 27 countries across Europe (excl. the UK). Most recently, the first businesses from Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Liechtenstein joined the movement.
- Within the last year alone, the B Corp community in Europe grew by 63%.
- There are over 100,000 workers employed by B Corps in Europe.
- Being a B Corp is a journey of continuous improvement: Every three years, B Corps are required to recertify. On average, B Corps increase their score by 6% during recertification.
- Going beyond to embrace equity: More than half of all European B Corps have majority-women management teams. Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion will continue to be the framework for how B Corps do business.
- Going beyond pays off: The average annual growth rate of European B Corps between certification periods is 22%.
- Over 13,000 European companies started measuring their impact in the past year alone (new B Impact Assessment registrations in 2022).
