NUS Consulting Group
Energy Blog / Industry Insights
Posted: Mar. 20th 2024

Strengthened Standards Push Companies Towards Science-Based Decarbonisation Targets

B Corporation are in the midst of a new iteration to revise and strengthen standards in place for certification.


B Corporation (B Corp), who are celebrating B Corp Month throughout March to promote their 'business as a force for good' ethos, are currently in the second consultation for their proposed new standards, designed to ensure certifying companies are leading the way in all sustainability matters across their business operations. The draft standards will challenge companies to measure annual scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, set a 1.5ยฐC aligned science-based target and procure 100% renewable electricity, amongst many other requirements. This will enable organisations to showcase their leadership and resilience in a demanding market to meet customer and stakeholder expectations.

Who are B Corp?

B Corp are an environment, social and governance (ESG) certification body run by non-profit B-Lab. The organisation challenges companies to showcase their leadership and resilience regarding key sustainability matters; workers, customers, community, environment and governance. Through achieving a score of 80 points across these 5 impact topics, companies demonstrate their ESG commitments to customers and stakeholders alike to protect their competitiveness in a changing and dynamic market.

What is Changing?

A key element of the B Corp scheme is continual improvement. The scheme guides companies away from stagnant targets and encourages repeated development and re-evaluation to promote growth, progress and transparency. This is enforced by obliging compliant companies to recertify every 3 years. B Lab apply the same standards to themselves and have revised their own standards 6 times in the last 17 years. As such, they are in the midst of a new iteration to revise and strengthen the standards in place for certification.

The changes will be coming into effect in 2025 via a phased transition. Through the revised standards, B Corp are raising the bar on the expectations of leading companies to secure the credibility of their certification.

How to Become Certified?

First, companies must prove eligibility for certification through an evaluation against the Foundation Requirements. This ensures that the organisation is able to fulfil the certification process, can implement a compatible stakeholder governance business model and aligns with the B Corp community's values.

Next, the company is required to meet the Performance Requirements. These requirements define the performance that the organisation must manage and continually improve upon to certify. The revised standards will be tailored to a company's size, sector, location and industry to maximise impact. Specific requirements for each of the new impact categories will be set along with recertification criteria that support the company's growth.

Proposed New Standards

The two draft environmental categories, representing the E from ESG, are 'Climate Action' and 'Environmental Stewardship and Circularity'. By achieving these, B-Corp certified companies can demonstrate the following:

Climate Action: B Corps take action in accordance with science to combat climate change and its impacts.

Environmental Stewardship and Circularity: B Corps demonstrate environmental stewardship and contribute to the circular economy in their operations and value chain, minimizing any negative impact and pursuing positive impact.

Climate Action

Under the provisional impact category Climate Action, all companies must address the following areas:

  1. The company measures its GHG emissions annually.
  2. The company sets a science-based target to keep global warming below 1.5ยฐC.
  3. The company implements a climate transition plan.

This represents a huge step up from the previous certification criteria. As part of setting a 1.5ยฐC aligned science-based target, the company must have oversight of their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and set interim emissions targets towards a net zero year. As part of a net zero goal, there must be a minimum of 90% emissions reduction across all scopes with permanent removal of residual emissions. The climate transition is designed toย outline how a company will work towards its target, who it will engage with, and what implications its commitment will have for its business model.

Environmental Stewardship and Circularity

Under the provisional impact category Environmental Stewardship and Circularity, all companies must address the following areas:

  1. The company knows its (potential) impacts on the environment.
  2. The company has a strategy to address its actual and potential negative environmental impacts, and to pursue efforts to stay within ecological thresholds.
  3. The company has a circular economy strategy.
  4. The company prevents and mitigates its actual and potential negative environmental impacts.
  5. The company works with their suppliers to achieve its environmental objectives and to attain traceability in the supply chain.

Within this, companies are expected to source 100% of their electricity from renewable supplies, commit to sending zero waste to landfill and eliminate single-use plastic products and packaging.

How NUS can Help

NUS' Energy and Sustainability Services (ESS) team are able to support clients with the data collection process for a broad range of projects, including scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas assessments, setting SBTi-aligned targets and developing decarbonisation roadmaps. If your company is exploring opportunities to achieve B Corp certification, get in touch with your NUS consultant, or contact us.

B Lab Global Site


Deanna Blades

Written by Deanna Blades

Compliance Projects and Support Analyst