Beyond Targets: Four Ways B Corp’s New Climate Standards Drive Real Action

The new B Corp standards are here, and for sustainability managers and business leaders, understanding the Climate Action (CA) requirements is crucial. We’ve distilled the key changes to help you see the opportunities for your business.

Key Shifts in the B Corp Climate Action Requirements

There are four significant elements to the Climate Action (CA) requirements:

1. Differing expectations: the standards now acknowledge the varying capacities of businesses, with requirements scaled to business size and sector.
2. Emphasis on justice and engagement: There’s a stronger focus on integrating Just Transition, Climate Justice and stakeholder engagement into climate strategies.
   • • Just transition: this is about transitioning to a net-zero economy in a way that’s fair and inclusive, ensuring decent work and leaving no one behind.
     • Climate justice: This principle highlights the need for supporting those most impacted by the effects of climate change, who are often the least responsible for it.
3. Prescriptive planning and reporting: the new standards provide clearer guidance on how businesses should plan to reduce their climate impact and track and report on progress.
4. Increased accountability for larger businesses: larger businesses face greater expectations, including setting ambitious targets, developing detailed transition plans, engaging stakeholders, addressing just transition, aligning executive compensation with climate goals and demonstrating responsible climate advocacy.

What The New B Corp Climate Action Requirements Mean for Your Business

Ultimately, the core message is that all businesses, regardless of size, need a plan to reduce their climate impact. However, the way this is implemented varies.

• Smaller businesses: the new standards recognise that smaller businesses may have less direct control over emissions and fewer resources for extensive footprint analysis and climate action. By not mandating a full corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint, the emphasis is on prioritising action. This could involve measuring emissions over time, reducing energy and water use and engaging employees and suppliers. 
• Larger businesses: larger businesses are expected to estimate and report all GHG emissions and establish externally verified net-zero targets (such as through the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)). Some may also need to have their annual GHG footprint verified by a third party. This reflects the greater capacity and responsibility these businesses have in driving significant change.

Climate Action Plans vs. Climate Transition Plans

The terminology also evolves with the new standards, reflecting the scale of action required.

• Smaller businesses will develop “action plans”.
• Larger businesses will develop “transition plans”, aligning with reporting requirements in regions like the UK and EU.

(Details as to what B Lab defines as ‘Smaller’ and ‘Larger’ can be found here.)

While all businesses need SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound) targets, stakeholder involvement and progress tracking, larger businesses must also link these plans to emission reductions, resource allocation and just transition considerations. Recognising the complexity, larger businesses are granted more time to develop these more comprehensive transition plans.

B Corp Climate Action: an Opportunity for Business

These new B Corp standards represent an opportunity for businesses to move beyond simply setting targets. It’s a chance to integrate holistic climate action into core business strategy, driving both environmental and commercial value. This has always been at the heart of how Greenheart delivers sustainability strategies, but how to achieve this is explicitly called out in the new standards, encouraging a streamlined approach globally.

How Greenheart Can Help and Next Steps

Do you have a plan to achieve your targets and understand where you stand with the new standards? If not, Greenheart can help. We can advise you on how to meet the B Corp Climate Action requirements as well as support you to create and implement the required Climate Action or Transition plan.  

Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with our Climate Action experts to discuss your specific needs here

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