The Benefits and Challenges of B Corp Certification

Have you heard of B Corp certification? It is becoming more and more common. Over 6,400 Certified B Corps now operate in 88 countries and 159 industries.

The certification process is quite involved, with many detailed questions about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Qualifying is not easy. It’s not just a matter of completing a simple application, filling in the boxes, and paying a fee. A company must receive a minimum score of 80 points out of 200 to qualify for initial certification. Companies recertify every three years and only qualify if they show improvement over the previous score.

B Lab, the nonprofit that certifies B Corps, uses a lot of B-related terminology. The online community is called the B Hive. And the main contact person at each company is called the B Keeper.

Brewer Science was the first company in the semiconductor industry to earn B Corp certification. It achieved that in 2021. I interviewed Karen Brown, the B Keeper at Brewer Science, for my upcoming book, Materials & Sustainability. Here is an excerpt from that interview.

Interview: Brewer Science and B Corp Certification

Julia: What advice would you give to other companies in your industry that are considering B Corp certification?

Karen: One of the lessons that we learned and one of the things that I would share with other companies who would decide to pursue this certification is documentation. There were areas where we were doing things and gave ourselves full points when we did the self assessment but ended up not getting points because we didn't have a written policy. Or we didn't have the proper data to back it up. 

I'll give you an example. One of the things that we have always been strong in is community involvement. Dr. Brewer [the CEO] himself has been recognized by the state of Missouri for outstanding philanthropic activity. Our employees are always volunteering. We even have community service leave and have had for probably at least 10 or 12 years a policy where every employee gets 32 paid hours a year to volunteer.

But we didn't do a very good job of tracking when people use that leave. And so we didn't get credit for any of that. That was really disheartening. Since our certification, we've looked at where we didn't score well and what we could do to change that. The two women who head up the employee volunteer area have just really stepped up. They wrote a very detailed policy. They've done informational meetings with employees. They have a new tracking system. They have got a little carrot in there to help people make sure that they are submitting the hours that they volunteer. They recognize an outstanding volunteer every quarter. 

I feel very confident that when we do our recertification, we will score very well in that area. We were doing all of the work. We just didn't have the documentation. A big piece of advice that I would give any company is that you prepare for this type of certification. It's not just, are you doing the work, but do you have a documented process? And can you easily pull the data that shows that you are following that process?

Julia: It sounds like those employees were managing the volunteer tracking in a way that people didn't feel like it's this additional burden.

Karen: Absolutely. Our team made it very easy to do.

Another area where companies can get a lot of points is being very engaged in your local community. I mean, that's huge. They want you to be sourcing and using suppliers locally, and they want you to volunteer in your local community.

One of the areas is locally impactful banking. We have a great relationship with a local bank. They are very engaged in the community. We very confidently thought, hey, we'll get full points for that.

That was another area where we got no points because the bank that we use is a branch of Bank of America. We discussed it with our auditor, and said, they are very engaged in the community. And she said, “That's all wonderful, but they are a corporate entity. They are not a locally owned bank. It does not fit our definition of local banking.” We didn't get any points for that.

Julia: That's interesting. Are there local banks that you would want to switch to?

Karen: That brings up a point that we have discussed internally. We've gone back and looked at where we did not score particularly well and have discussed what it would take to do better. And whether doing that makes sense for us. And the decision has been no, in this particular instance. We like the relationship we have with that bank. It's important to us and so we're not going to make a change in our banking relationship. 

Another area that we struggle with in our industry is getting local suppliers.

Julia: I was thinking about that because it's not as though there's a huge pool of semiconductor industry companies near you.

Karen: We've just had to accept it for what it is and we've tried to focus on that non-production supply area. For things like groundskeeping, cleaning services, cleaning supplies, food supplies, and coffee for the break room, each of our local offices will and should give preference to local suppliers. We know we're not going to get full points. But we've done the best we can because we know that, as you said, there are no chemical suppliers in our area.

Same thing with diversity and inclusion. Because we are limited in some of the chemicals we purchase for our manufacturing. There are one or two suppliers in the entire world. Where we can, we give preference to diverse suppliers. And we include that in the sourcing. But that can't be the only criterion.

In the semiconductor industry or in chemicals manufacturing, there are going to be limits to what you can do. It is different than making consumer goods where you have a lot of choices. If you're sourcing cocoa beans, for example, you have choices. Some are better than others from the viewpoint of finding local suppliers or supporting diversity.

We're not ever going to be the perfect B Corp. But as Dr. Brewer always likes to say, and has said since he founded the company, we're not in business to make a profit, we're in business to leave the world a better place than it was. For us, that is the way we look at being a B Corp. We've now achieved B Corp certification, which validates that we have made and continue to make a positive impact on our community, on our employees, on our customers and, through our suppliers, on the manufacturing process.

Takeaways

Karen’s story shows that industry and geographical location sometimes limit how much a company can do on some of the B Corp metrics. With any sustainability initiatives, companies will face challenges. The desire to do as much as they can and ask hard questions is what separates the leaders from the laggards. Companies that make a sincere effort can inspire others in their industry to follow.

Want to read more interview excerpts and stay updated on the progress as Materials & Sustainability gets closer to publication? Please join my email community. You can subscribe at the top of my blog.