The environmental performance of UK‐based B Corp companies: An analysis based on the triple bottom line approach

Abstract

AbstractThe B Corp certification recognizes high social and environmental performance in business. This performance is measured in five pillars—Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers—but with no minimum threshold per pillar. This allows companies to choose those impact areas where they want to perform well. This study, based on the triple bottom line theory, analyses the environmental performance of 68 UK‐based B Corps from two environmentally sensitive sectors: manufacturing and wholesale/retail. We use an inductive approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methods to find out whether this trade‐off‐permitting approach leads to high environmental performance in companies and whether the certification successfully prevents greenwashing. Our results show firstly that companies in the two sectors tend to perform better socially than environmentally; secondly, that prioritizing one social impact area generally leads to below‐average environmental performances compared to certified peers; and thirdly, that to rule out greenwashing, B Corp should ensure certified companies display high levels of environmental performance and that they align their “green” claims to their performance.