What Is B Corp Certification? The 2026 Standard Explained By Chester Takau · July 2026 Short answer: B Corp Certification is awarded by the nonprofit B Lab to for-profit companies that pass an independent audit of their social and environmental impact, governance, and transparency. It's a company-level credential, not a legal status. More than 10,800 companies across 102 countries now hold it, and every one of them is currently recertifying under B Lab's newly rebuilt Standards V2. B Corp certification, in one paragraph "Certified B Corp" means B Lab, an independent nonprofit, audited a company across five areas — governance, workers, community, environment, and customers — and the company cleared a defined bar in all of them. It's the closest thing business has to a background check for whether a company's social and environmental claims hold up. Certification isn't permanent: companies recertify on a cycle, and B Lab can revoke the label if...