02 May 2025 – Important Update: Since the original article was published, the final version of the new B Corp standards was released in April 2025. As a result, some of the information below, based on the 2024 draft standards, may now be out of date.
Key changes from the draft include:
Climate Action:
- Simplified climate requirements for smaller companies, focusing on action plans and progress without requiring precise GHG data
- Requirement for larger companies to validate science-based targets through SBTi or a third-party verification
- New obligation for large companies to engage value chain stakeholders in just transition planning
Environmental Stewardship and Circularity:
- Defined required outputs from environmental impacts assessment, including value chain overview, priority sites and high-impact commodities
- Adjusted criteria for environmental strategy focusing on material priorities and mitigation hierarchy, and removing prescriptive commitments
- Clarified value chain engagement and target-setting for biodiversity and water stewardship strategies
- New requirement for investment-related sectors to assess and mitigate environmental impacts of investments
- Introduced circular product design principles options aligned with the waste hierarchy and required measurable improvements at recertification
- Expanded circularity requirements to full product portfolios with progressive improvement expectations for companies with multiple products
- New requirement to assess available recovery infrastructure in markets where products are sold
- Specified supplier expectations on prevention, mitigation and remediation of environmental impacts, including prioritisation, target-setting and monitoring progress
We are continuing to share insights on how to meet the new requirements. Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date.
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The B Corp Certification standards are evolving and the development process is still underway. Here at Greenheart we’re keeping our green fingers on the pulse as B Lab shares information on what the new standards will mean for B Corps and companies striving to gain the certification. As discussed in our recent blog on The Future of B Corp Certification we shared that the changes will affect companies certifying from 2026 onwards. Crucially, there will be changes to the performance requirements companies have to meet to become a certified B Corp.
This summer we will be sharing our thoughts on multiple themes of the new draft B Corp standards including Governance, Environment, HR, Value Chain and how to assess gaps in your company’s performance to prepare for the new B Corp standards.
What environmental topics are covered in the new standards?
There are two key environmental topics covered in the new B Corp standards. The first is climate action, meaning B Corps are expected to take action in accordance with science to combat climate change and its impacts. The key actions required to do this are:
- Measuring greenhouse gas emissions annually including scope 3 plus large companies will be required to gain third party verification of their emissions data to improve reporting accuracy
- Setting targets to reduce those emissions aligned with the science to prevent global temperatures rising more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels
- Implementing a climate transition plan to reach net zero emissions through taking actions such as conducting a scenario analysis to inform the planning
This climate action theme is much more comprehensive than the previous version of the B Corp standards, which have been in place since 2018. The previous version included basic questions on energy use, reduction and scope 1 & 2 emissions but nothing on setting science-based targets or conducting scenario analysis to understand the company’s real impact on the climate and the impact of the climate on the company. The minimum requirement to set science based targets will improve the quality of targets where in the past, companies were free to set targets with little rationale of how they settled on that goal and without a plan to achieve it. This broadening of the requirements in the new draft B Corp standards will provide a solid foundation for companies to conduct valuable assessments, set meaningful targets and take real action towards a regenerative future economy within planetary boundaries.
The second key environmental topic is environmental stewardship & circularity which means that B Corps will need to demonstrate that they are stewarding the environment and contributing to the circular economy through their operations and value chain by minimising negative impact and creating positive impact. Example actions companies could take to demonstrate this are:
- Conducting an exercise to identify the company’s potential and actual impacts on the environment, (for example through implementing an Environmental Management System such as ISO14001, or conducting a materiality assessment)
- Having a strategy to address those environmental impacts
- Having a circular economy strategy
- Preventing and mitigating the company’s negative environmental impacts
- Working with suppliers and customers to achieve environmental objectives in a collaborative manner
- Working to achieve traceability and transparency in the value chain
This focus on all companies being required to implement an Environmental Management System such as the model laid out in the ISO14001 standard, is a real opportunity for all companies to identify, measure and mitigate their actual and potential impacts on the environment. This will create business opportunities to adapt operations and business strategies to positively impact the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit, at the same time as increasing business resilience.
“These new additions to the B Corp standards are nothing new to us and the work we do at Greenheart. We welcome the suggested new environmental standards from B Corp, particularly the minimum requirements, to ensure all B Corps are taking the action they should to be a business for good” – Fern Spencer, Senior Planetary Health Consultant at Greenheart
These environmental themes of climate action, environmental stewardship and circularity provide an opportunity for your business to accelerate necessary action in this area of your business. Greenheart’s Planetary Health team are experts in GHG reporting, Environmental Management Systems, materiality assessments, biodiversity impact management and climate scenario analysis. All of which will support companies who are aiming to meet the new B Corp standards.
For existing B Corp Certified companies and those aspiring to achieve the certification in the future, we are offering a gap analysis service where our B Corp specialists will uncover the journey between where you are now, and what needs to be done to meet the new standards. As you heard from Fern, our planetary health experts are well versed in the technical aspects required by the new standards and are ready to help companies take the action required from implementing environmental management systems, to full carbon reporting. If you’d like more information about this, or anything else, please email contact@greenheartbusiness.com
