B Corp status is a clear marketing win for a company, but the process can also unlock other benefits for effective and meaningful communications.
I had an enlightening evening with the Yorkshire & Humber B Local network celebrating 10 years of the UK B Corp movement.
B Corps are companies which have demonstrated high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
According to a new report from B Lab UK, there are now around 2,600 registered B Corp companies in the UK – about a quarter of the global total. The UK companies boast a combined turnover of some £38 billion and a workforce of over 200,000 across 120 industries.
There’s a lot of evidence that B Corp status is linked to business success, as well as environmental and social wins. British SMEs with the status reported an average of 20 per cent turnover growth in 2024-25, almost seven times higher than the average for UK SMEs over the same period.
There’s only around 100 B Corps in the Yorkshire region, but the diversity was on show at the Leeds event. It was great to talk to B Corps in sectors as different as coffee roasting and carbon accounting software. Achieving B Corp status is a medium-term ambition for Othersfield, so it was good to discuss how they got there – as well as learning more about what they do and how they talk about it.
From data to sustainable communications
From the marketing and PR point of view, B Corp status can have big benefits in itself – so long as your stakeholders have trust in the programme.
There have been some controversies in recent years about high-profile B Corps which didn’t demonstrate best practice in every area of their operations (to put it politely). The standards were revised earlier this year to encourage more consistent behaviour across the board.
B Corp status now requires companies to meet a minimum standard in each of seven impact topics. Previously, certification was based on a single score across all categories of assessment.
Part of the benefit of going through the certification process is that companies have to gather the data to demonstrate their sustainability and social impact. That data can provide a lot of additional value.
Used wisely to underpin other communications, from impact reports to news stories and case studies, that data and insight can help you meet other business objectives.
Crucially, making sure that your comms are underpinned by solid data will help build trust and minimise the risk of inadvertent greenwashing or misrepresentation. That means your stories can be sustainable in every sense of the word.
If you need support on reliable storytelling about business sustainability and environmental impact, get in touch.