Number one: London is B Corp capital of the world with record 1,000 B corporations
Britain has one of the largest and fastest-growing communities of sustainable businesses in the world as B Lab UK announces that there are now over 1,000 Certified B Corporations in the UK.
B Corporations are businesses verified to high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
Household names who are part of the first 1,000 to have achieved B Corp status in the UK include Innocent Drinks, Jojo Maman Bébé, Baringa, Finisterre, Sipsmith and Simplyhealth, while a number of famous faces, including Jamie Oliver, Matthew Freud, Emma Bunton, Jaime Laing, and Bear Grylls, have also worked to certify their businesses.
B Corps are represented in all corners of the UK.
At the end of last year, there were just 564 B Corps, now there are 1,000 – to put that into context that’s the same number of B Corps as the whole of mainland Europe.
With over 500 B Corps, London is the city with the most B Corps in the world, and they can also be found in cities across the country including Bristol, Manchester, Brighton, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
The furthest flung UK B Corp is Bruichladdich distillery on the southwestern tip of the remote Hebridean Island of Islay.
Strong performers
Compared to traditional businesses, B Lab UK data shows that B Corps have a faster growth in turnover (27 per cent vs 5 per cent) and employee headcount (14 per cent vs 1 per cent), greater levels of employee retention, engagement and diversity, higher levels of innovation and are more successful in securing equity finance (70 per cent vs 56 pent).
“Reaching 1,000 B Corporations in the UK shows that this leadership is possible. It is our privilege to be working with such a passionate community of businesses, who have been the loudest and proudest advocates for the way in which certification has helped them to ‘measure what matters’ and change the way their companies behave,” Chris Turner, Executive Director at B Lab UK, said today.
” But there’s still a long way to go. If we want B Corp to continue to represent the pioneers of better business, we must intentionally keep moving the goalposts and challenge ourselves to go further, faster.”