Number of UK B Corps shoots up to 2,000, latest data shows

The number of B Corporations in the UK has doubled in the last 18 months, reaching a total of 2,000, according to data released on 15 April by B Corp certification provider, B Lab UK. 

This makes the UK’s B Corp community one of the largest and fastest growing in the world, which includes some well known organisations such as mobile phone network provider GiffGaff, and news publication The Guardian.

Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are businesses that are awarded certification from B Lab, a global network of organisations that recognises companies that lead the way in prioritising people and the planet alongside profit. B Lab also creates standards, policies, and tools companies can use to measure and improve their impact on their employees, customers, local communities and the environment.

The rapid increase in the number of B Corps in the UK in the past 18 months is a continued trend. In December 2022, Chris Turner, executive director of B Lab UK, shared that the number of B Corps in the country had doubled in just a year. By the end of 2021, 564 UK businesses had achieved B Corp certification, compared with 1,000 by December 2022.

Exploring some of the reasons for the fast growth in UK’s B Corp community, James Ghaffari, director of growth and product at B Lab UK said: “There are some things that are unique to the UK business environment. One of those things is that we have a relatively small geographical area, but with a high density of businesses and business activity.”

This environment, Ghaffari said, allowed for both competition and community to thrive.

“Companies kind of compete to be the best for the planet and the best for society. They’ll see innovative things that one business is doing or certifications that another business is getting, and they’ll react to that. That element of competition within a small environment has been really valuable,” he said.

B Corp is not just a certification. It’s a community of businesses that are coming together to redefine what success should be in business

He added: “The second thing is reflective of the fact that B Corp is not just a certification. It’s really a community of businesses that are coming together to redefine what success should be in business.”

Out of the 8,400 B Corps spread across the globe, almost a quarter are based in the UK. North America has the highest number B Corps, with the US and Canada sharing 2,400 between them. The rest of Europe has 1,800, while Latin America has 1,200.

B Corps around the world

Alongside B Corps, ‘benefit corporations’ have become increasingly prominent in the US and Canada. These are businesses that adopt a legal structure that embeds stakeholder governance into their business model, ensuring their fiduciary duty to the public.

The global coalition G20 for Impact, which includes B Lab, the World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation, among others, has been pushing for benefit corporations to become globally recognised as a new legal identity for businesses.

Unlike the benefit corporation model, which requires companies to change their structure, Ghafarri said that the B Corp certification only requires companies to change their Articles of Association “to say that they will consider all of their stakeholders in their decision-making”.  

He added: “Rather than campaigning for a different type of company structure, we want to campaign to change the existing company [through the] Companies Act, to ensure that every single business in the UK, by definition, will have to think about all of their stakeholders.”

Ghafarri made a reference to the Better Business Act, a campaign led by retail guru Mary Portas and backed by B Lab UK, which sets out to amend Section 172 of the Companies Act to ensure that companies have a legal responsibility to benefit their workers, customers, communities and the environment alongside delivering profit.

He said: “A lot of businesses, we hope, will be inspired by things like B Corp to actually make changes. But we must acknowledge that some businesses will have to be incentivised and encouraged by legislation. That’s what we’re trying to do through this Better Business Act.”

Top photo: Speakers on stage at the B Inspired London summit in 2019, Courtesy of B Lab UK

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