Company certification or product certification: what a B Corp certificate proves
A B Corp certificate assesses a company. It certifies no product in its catalogue. What each level of certification answers, what the April 2025 overhaul changed, and why a procurement file needs both without ever confusing them.
A certification sits at one of two levels. It either assesses an organisation, or it attests to something about a specific product. On a supplier questionnaire, the two answer entirely different questions, and offering one in place of the other leaves a gap that only becomes visible under scrutiny.
This is a criticism of neither. Both are legitimate. The problem is substitution.
The distinction in one table
| Company level | Product level | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | B Corp, EcoVadis rating, ISO 14001 | GOTS, OCS, GRS, RCS, FSC, OEKO-TEX |
| What is assessed | Governance, practices, management systems | A material, a batch, a finished item |
| Attached to | The legal entity | A product or material lot |
| Answers | Who did I buy from | What is in the thing I bought |
| Verified through | The body’s register, under the entity name | Certificate number, and its scope |
What a B Corp certificate tells you
B Corp certification assesses a company as a whole. Until recently that ran through a score, and the scoring model has been retired.
This is worth saying, because most explanations still online describe a framework that no longer exists. B Lab published a fully rewritten framework on 8 April 2025 (new tab), the B Lab Standards V2, replacing the requirement to reach at least 80 points on the B Impact Assessment. Under the previous model, strong performance in one area could offset weaker performance in another.
The new framework works differently. Companies must meet baseline requirements across seven mandatory Impact Topics (new tab): Purpose and Stakeholder Governance, Climate Action, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Government Affairs and Collective Action, Fair Work, Human Rights, and Environmental Stewardship and Circularity. B Lab states explicitly that it is moving away from cumulative point scoring towards minimum requirements.
Two further changes matter. Assessments are now conducted by independent third parties (new tab), under requirements aligned with ISO 17021-1, replacing the self assessment model. And stakeholder governance has become an entry condition rather than a source of points: it sits among the Foundation Requirements, to be handled before the self assessment even begins, and must be embedded in the company’s governing documents.
The framework is not satisfied once and for all. Requirements are staged across Year 0, Year 3 and Year 5, Year 0 being certification itself. Meeting the threshold once is no longer enough.
What the European directive has just changed about it
The overhaul is directly tied to European rules, and the consequence is harder than a brand guideline update.
B Lab Europe (new tab) sets out the timetable. Directive (EU) 2024/825, known as Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, was to be transposed by member states by 27 March 2026 and becomes applicable on 27 September 2026. Recertification submissions on the V2 framework opened on 4 February 2026, and V2 certification opened to all companies on 11 March 2026.
The date that counts has passed. 15 July 2026 was the submission deadline for ECGT-impacted B Corps wishing to keep using the logo without signing an amendment to their B Corp Agreement. Those that have neither recertified on V2 nor signed that amendment will lose, on 27 September 2026, the right to use the B Corp logo and to describe themselves as a Certified B Corporation.
For a buyer, the practical reading is simple. A company displaying a B Corp logo in autumn 2026 is not displaying quite the same thing as a year earlier, and the question “is your certification current with the V2 framework” has become an ordinary question, with an answer.
A practical consequence for your files. If a supplier’s page still shows a B Corp score, that figure belongs to the previous system. It is not wrong as a historical fact, and it is no longer the basis on which the certification is granted. Scores should disappear from communication over the course of 2026 and 2027.
What a B Corp certificate does not tell you
It certifies no product in that company’s catalogue.
A B Corp company can sell products containing certified organic cotton, products containing conventional cotton, and products bought from a third party and resold under its own name. The certification assesses how the business is run. It says nothing about the composition of a specific item on your quote.
This is not a loophole. It is simply what this certification is for. The problem arises only when it is offered in answer to a question about a product.
Where the substitution happens
Three moments, in our experience.
- On a supplier questionnaire. The question is about product certifications. The answer names a company certification. The gap goes unnoticed because both look like credentials.
- On a product page. A company certification logo sits beside a product image. Nothing false has been stated. It is the adjacency that does the work.
- In a sustainability report. A merchandise line is documented with the supplier’s company certification, because that was the only evidence collected at the time. Reconstructing product level evidence eighteen months later is difficult, and sometimes impossible.
The question that settles it
Ask whether the certificate is issued for the company or for the item on your quote. Then ask for the number.
A product level certificate carries a number that can be checked with the issuing body, and a scope that states which products it covers. A company level certificate can be verified in the relevant register, and will not name your product, because that is not what it is for.
If a supplier can only produce the company level document, that is better known before you order than during an audit. It does not necessarily mean the product is uncertified. It means the evidence has not been established.
Both, ideally
None of the above argues against company level certification. A supplier independently assessed on its governance, its labour and its environmental management is telling you something real about how it operates, and the new B Corp framework asks considerably more than the old one did.
The useful position is to treat the two as separate columns in the same file. One tells you about the organisation. The other about the goods. A complete merchandise file usually needs both, and it always needs to keep them apart.
At Sustainity we publish which of our products carry a material certification and which carry none, along with which sites have been socially audited. The counts sit on our commitments page and recalculate with the catalogue.
Frequently asked questions
Does B Corp certification mean the products are certified?
No. B Corp assesses the company as a whole. Product level certifications such as GOTS, GRS, RCS, FSC and OEKO-TEX attach to a specific product or material batch, and those are the ones that document what you bought.
Has B Corp certification changed?
Yes. B Lab published a substantially revised framework on 8 April 2025, the B Lab Standards V2, replacing the requirement to reach at least 80 points on the B Impact Assessment with baseline requirements across seven Impact Topics, verified by independent third parties.
What are the seven Impact Topics?
Purpose and Stakeholder Governance, Climate Action, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Government Affairs and Collective Action, Fair Work, Human Rights, and Environmental Stewardship and Circularity.
Why do some companies still show a B Corp score?
Scores were awarded under the previous system, in force until the 2025 framework was introduced. They are historical figures, not the current criteria for certification.
What happens to B Corps on 27 September 2026?
That is the application date of Directive (EU) 2024/825. ECGT-impacted B Corps that have neither recertified on the V2 framework nor signed the amendment to their B Corp Agreement lose the right to use the B Corp logo and to present themselves as a Certified B Corporation.
Which certification should a procurement file record?
Both, kept separate. The company level certificate documents the supplier. The product level certificate, with its number and scope, documents the goods.
Sources
- B Lab: new standards published, 8 April 2025 (new tab)
- B Lab: the new standards, what changes (new tab)
- B Lab Europe: our standards and the seven Impact Topics (new tab)
- B Lab Europe: recertification, third party verification and deadlines (new tab)
- B Lab Europe: the ECGT directive explained (new tab)
- Directive (EU) 2024/825 (new tab)