How a New Chapter for B Corp Certification Can Shift the Global Economy

Over the first 13 years, the assessment was modified, and new standards were rolled out every few years, eventually totaling six unique assessment categories. It’s now being referred to as “Version 1.” Every two or three years, recertifying companies had to meet the newest revisions. The revisions were significant but often refined the existing framework rather than wholesale reimaginations of it, still relying on the 80 points-to-qualify rubric. Version 1.6 was slated to be refreshed in 2020, but, like so many other best-laid plans, COVID had other ideas—leaving Version 1.6 in place until recently. 

Enter Version 2 of the B Impact Assessment: A New Paradigm 

In early 2025, B Lab launched “Version 2” of the BIA. While it still measures many of the same environmental and social components, it introduces a new paradigm altogether.

Instead of each B Corp finding their own pathway to 80 points, the new assessment requires that all B Corps must now meet verifiable requirements across seven measurement areas.  

This shift from “what does your company do?” to “what all B Corps must do” is significant. Instead of an individual focus, a collective impact lens comes to the forefront, as all B Corps now must be accountable to the same global expectations. They all must set transparent, measurable targets where they will integrate climate goals into their governance, publish their transition plans, and practice human rights due diligence throughout their inputs and supply chain. 

If Every Business Met These Standards 

Bringing this point home: Clay Brown, B Lab’s Chief Standards Officer, shared from the main stage at Champions Retreat 2026 that while individual change is important and necessary, the impacts of the changes become truly compelling when taken collectively. 

New research from B Lab reveals that scaling the current practices of B Corps under Version 2 of the standards across all sectors of the global economy could: 

1. Reduce global warming by 0.5°C (0.8°F) by 2100, instead of the current forecast of an increase of 3.5°C (5.9°F)  
2. Prevent 600,000 deaths from extreme heat, and  
3. Lower extinction risk for thousands of species. 

Returning to the Declaration of Interdependence 

The first 72 certified B Corps signed what’s known as the Declaration of Interdependence, recognizing that the planet and workers are essential stakeholders that have long been without a seat at the table.

They believed that shareholder-profit maximization needs to give way to stakeholder-centric models that recognize people and planet as essential for broad prosperity. Twenty years later, the need for this shift is greater than ever.  And while gamification and scoring have historically motivated many companies to look for ways to elevate their individual impact scores, Version 2 centers on what we achieve together.

Collective Action is the Only Way Forward 

Dr. Michael McAfee, the President and CEO of PolicyLink, gave a keynote at Champions Retreat that put these ideas into a simple refrain: the power of all.   

He remarked that we have to center the ‘all’ and ‘embrace a founder mindset,’ where we have the courage and humility to acknowledge that we will not get where we need to go alone. Instead, to create a future where there is broad equity and prosperity for people and the planet, we can only do so together. Together, all people and businesses “will create a just and fair society where all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.”   

And in that way, for us as business leaders and values-driven organizations, the standards are a roadmap of the steps we as a community, not just individual businesses, must take to achieve goals much bigger than any one of us could accomplish alone. If we truly want to see a future of shared and durable prosperity for all, we are going to have to build it collectively—and working together is not optional. Finding ways to collaborate, share, learn, and innovate are essential parts of the journey to benefit all.