The B-Corp Beauty coalition (www.bcorpbeauty.org ) celebrated their first anniversary in January 2023.

With over fifty members across six continents, each meeting the rigorous standards of B Corp certification, the coalition’s vision is to deliver ‘beauty for good’.

As companies and individuals grapple with the wide range of issues related to sustainability, collaborations and coalitions are being formed in different market sectors to speed up the process of providing creative solutions to different challenges.

In this article I’m going to explore the B Corp certification process, and the role of B Corp companies and coalitions in delivering meaningful changes across many different industry segments, including the aesthetic/beauty markets.

Since it first launched in the US in 2007, more than 6,000 companies1 have achieved B Corp status from Patagonia to Ben & Jerry's.

It has also quietly certified over 500 British businesses from a wide range of different sectors, including The Body Shop, Innocent Drinks and Coutts, the 325-year-old London based private bank. 

What are the aims of B-Corp Companies?

The certification concept was established by B-Lab, a US based non-profit network with a mission to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.

They state that that there is no “Planet B” and that a different kind of economy is not only possible, but necessary — with business leading the way towards a new, stakeholder-driven model.

This premise is based on their observation that the current economic system, driven by business as one of its key actors, is failing to meet its potential and promise to create positive impact.  In fact, it creates significant negative impacts for people, communities, and the planet. 

They identified three key aspects that reinforce the problematic role of business:

·        Design of legal systems

·        Business behaviour and operations

·        Corporate culture and the narratives around business and success

This leads to three types of negative impacts:

·        Structural social and economic inequality

·        Environmental degradation and resource extraction

·        Decline of individual wellbeing and loss of social cohesion

By working with other movements, coalitions, policymakers, activists, and organisations, and by catalysing their stakeholders — Certified B Corporations, Benefit Corporations, and businesses adopting B Lab’s standards can make a positive difference,

The role of business is thus redefined so that all businesses are a force for good — and play a leading role in positively impacting and transforming the global economy toward a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative system.

How is a business certified as B Corp?

B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.

Certification is holistic and is not exclusively focused on a single social or environmental issue. The process to achieve and maintain certification is rigorous and requires engaging teams and departments across a business. Taking company size and profile into account, verification involves documentation of a company’s business model and information about operations, structure, and various work processes, as well as a review of potential public complaints and possible site visits.

Businesses have to achieve a score of at least 80 out of 200 against five areas of impact: Governance, Community, Workers, Environment and Customers.

Recertification confirms these standards continue to be met on an ongoing basis, as has recently been evidenced when the Scottish based craft beer company BrewDog had its B Corp status revoked less than 2 years after being verified through the process2.

What is the B Corp Beauty Coalition?

The B Corp coalition was formed in January 2022 and members focus on investing time and efforts to improve four key issues that affect everyone and everything: ingredient sourcing and sustainability; greener logistics; packaging responsibility; consistent and clear external messaging that customers can understand and trust.

Davide Bollati, President of Davines (an Italian based skincare and hair care manufacturer), and founding member of the B Corp Beauty Coalition said in a recent press release:

“As Certified B Corporations meeting the highest standards of social and environmental impact, we have become increasingly uncomfortable with the social and environmental footprint of the beauty industry and concluded our respective solo efforts to enable positive change can be enhanced through a partnership of mutual commitment. So, we have decided to form a coalition to leverage our combined strengths and deliver tangible benefits to beauty customers, communities, and the planet we share”. 3

 Sustainability tipping point

There is evidence all around us of the benefits for pioneering businesses to lead positive changes that will effectively tackle the many issues that we all face in relation to sustainability.

Alexander Fech, a member of Forbes magazine business council, recently wrote an article about why sustainability will trigger exponential growth explaining: “We are currently at a tipping point in terms of sustainability: our planet is at a tipping point and so is our society, our economy and every one of us as individuals. In the next few years, sustainability will become not only unavoidable but profitable.” 4

Chris Skidmore, MP, and former UK energy secretary said in his net zero review published this year that: “The UK leads in areas including clean technologies, science, manufacturing and green finance – areas that, if managed right, can lead to new jobs and strong economic growth”. 5

Those businesses that look internally at how they operate, and form coalitions and working partnerships with other like-minded businesses will benefit the most as the end consumer will increasingly want to spend their money with companies who are actively trying to make positive changes.

 As an industry, its encouraging to see beauty companies becoming B Corp registered and joining coalitions to speed up the process of tackling urgent issues pertinent to some parts of our sector.

However, I am struggling to recognise any names that operate more in the “aesthetic” rather than beauty sectors, apart from skincare company Pangaea, (manufacturers of the brand Medik8) who are currently going through the certification process.

What can you do?

Over the coming year I plan to record and publish interviews from leading companies that operate specifically in the aesthetic sector to see what plans they have to innovate and make positive changes that contribute towards a more sustainable economy.

I would encourage anyone running a business to actively engage with their suppliers; the more people who ask, the higher this topic will become on the agenda of companies in our sector.

Although it’s unlikely that clinic owners (apart from the larger chains in our sector) would want to go through B-Corp certification, there are many things that you can do to run a more sustainable business that will resonate with you staff and customers/patients.

Finally, for businesses to take responsibility for their role in the urgent transition to a low-carbon, sustainable and fair economy, they need to listen deeply and hear the voices of all stakeholders (customers/suppliers and partners) on which their businesses survive.

We are all on a journey where we are learning what we can do to make a positive change both in our businesses and personal lives.
As small business owners you have more power than most to instigate change by choosing greener suppliers, and/or nudging existing ones to come up with plans for improvement. In addition, any positive changes that you make (no matter how small) can be communicated with your customer database, potentially positively influencing thousands of other people.

If you’re interested in ideas and suggestions, follow the Sustainability in Aesthetics Facebook group that connects like-minded clinic owners and suppliers who want to be involved in making meaningful changes around the broad range of sustainability issues.

I firmly believe that this will have a positive effect on your profits as consumers look to spend money with companies who are actively engaged in making changes and communicating this, rather than ignoring what is going on all around them.

1.     B Lab United Kingdom Website; < https://bcorporation.uk/b-corp-certification/what-is-a-b-corp/ >. (Accessed 30th January 2023)

2.     The Drinks Business, 5th December 2022, BrewDog has its B Corp status revoked, Sarah Neish, <https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2022/12/brewdog-has-its-b-corps-certificate-revoked/>. (Accessed 30th January 2023)

3.     B Beauty B Corp Coalition, January 2022, Introducing B Beauty Press Release, < https://www.bcorpbeauty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/B-Corp-Beauty-Coalition.Press-Release.FINAL_.pdf>.(Accessed 30th January 2023)

4.     Forbes Magazine, 11th January 2022, The Tipping Point: Why Sustainability Will Trigger Exponential Growth, Alexander Frech, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/01/11/the-tipping-point-why-sustainability-will-trigger-exponential-growth/?sh=3c4fdc722ada>.(Accessed 30th January 2023)

5.     Gov.uk website, Press Release, 13th January 2023, Net Zero Review: UK could do more to reap economic benefits of green growth, <https://www.gov.uk/government/news/net-zero-review-uk-could-do-more-to-reap-economic-benefits-of-green-growth>.(Accessed 30th January 2023)