We used to trust B Corp for certifying that a brand’s social policies are ethical. But no more. Here’s why.
By Chere Di Boscio
We have written here in Eluxe about ESGs are absolute greenwashing nonsense. And for anyone who looks into them, that should be clear. They essentially boost the huge corporations that are most responsible for the Earth’s destruction, and punish small businesses.
But there were smaller certifications that we did trust. Like, Leaping Bunny, which certifies that personal care products are cruelty-free. Or PETA approved, which ensures a product is vegan friendly. And finally, B Corp, which (used to?) certify an organisation’s positive social and environmental impact. To become B Corp certified, companies must score at least 80 out of 200 points. And also adhere to standards across governance, employees, community, environment and customer relations.
But 40% positivity is, well, low. And the definition of ‘governance, employees, community, environment and customer relations’ is pretty broad.
So, now wonder we now have questions about whether we can trust B Corp. And those questions were initially raised by Dr Bronner’s.
Dr Bronner’s Issues With B Corp
The top-selling natural brand of soap in North America recently announced it will drop its B Corp Certification. It will not renew with B Lab, the organisation that manages the well-known certification for companies with a stated social purpose.
The announcement followed a long campaign by Dr. Bronner’s. The soap maker called on B Lab to meaningfully improve the B Corp standard. Unfortunately, Dr. Bronner’s believes B Lab has failed to implement new standards to prevent the dilution of the B Corp mission.
David and Michael Bronner, CEO and President of Dr. Bronner’s, explained why.
“The increasing certification of multinationals including Unilever Australia and Nespresso in 2022 followed by Nestle Health Sciences in 2023 demonstrated that B Lab is not committed to protecting the integrity of the B Corp Certification and movement, nor ensuring that the certification won’t be used to mislead consumers. Sharing the same logo and messaging regarding being of ‘benefit’ to the world with large multinational CPG companies with a history of serious ecological and labor issues, and no comprehensive or credible eco-social certification of supply chains, is unacceptable to us.”
And we would tend to agree!
The spokesmen for the company continued:
“The raw agricultural materials a company uses—whether meat, milk, eggs, palm oil, cocoa, coffee, cotton, and any others—are often produced in terrible ways in terms of social and environmental impact. The farming and subsequent post-harvest processing of raw materials, whether in oil and textile mills, slaughterhouses, or cut and sew shops, can be done in either an unethical and extractive way or a more sustainable and generative way, in terms of farmer, worker, and animal welfare, and soil, community, and ecosystem health.”
In short, the main reason Dr Bronner’s says they can no longer trust B Corp is this:
“We have not seen adequate, transparent, and timely action from B Lab to update the standards or certification process to address our concerns. Now, our only recourse is to drop our certification. We hope our exit will prompt necessary and overdue action, and that allies who remain B Corp Certified will continue to push to improve the standard from the inside.”
Dr. Bronner’s annual B Corp Certification fee is paid through September 2025. The company has already begun removing the B Corp logo from branding and marketing materials.
So, if we can no longer trust B Corp, who can we trust? What are the biggest challenges or limitations with organic certifications in the personal care industry? And what other examples of greenwashing stand out? We asked David Bronner for some answers.
David Bronner Speaks Out
Which organic certifications do you consider the most reputable or rigorous in the personal care industry?
Dr. Bronner’s has been closely involved with the development of the Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) standard, which we believe is the most rigorous certification currently achievable. It ensures in a holistic way that high bar soil health, animal welfare and fair labor and fair trade criteria are met. We were involved in the ROC pilot program in 2019 along with other brands like Patagonia and Lotus Foods, and we are progressively working towards ensuring that all of our products are certified under this standard. Currently most of our liquid and bar soaps are certified, as well as our coconut oil and chocolate bars.
ROC also includes a tiered system of certification – bronze, silver, and gold. This provides additional transparency to the consumer and a deeper acknowledgement of a business’s regenerative practices.
Can you explain why these certifications stand out to you compared to others?
Regenerative Organic Certification brings the best soil health, animal welfare, and fair labor standards together under a single consumer facing certification, to ensure food, fiber, and raw materials are produced in a regenerative, fair, and humane way.
Regenerative organic practices build soil carbon, make soil drought-proof, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. That’s because they help agriculture be more resilient to climate related volatility in weather. At a global scale, regenerative agriculture could also be a major sink for atmospheric carbon and help to fight climate change.
Additionally, regenerative organic farming at home and abroad boosts farmer incomes and revitalises rural economies. This helps farmers to escape the poverty trap and enables them to stay on their land, instead of working in urban slums or on corporate plantations.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges or limitations with organic certifications in the personal care industry?
The problem with existing certifications is that the actual primary cleansing and moisturising ingredients are often not sourced or made from organic raw materials. Instead, relatively cheap organic water extracts and aloe vera make up the bulk of organic content. However, there are certified products under COSMOS and NSF 305 who’s main cleansing and moisturising ingredients are made from organic material. A consumer should always read the ingredients. And if there’s ingredients you can’t pronounce, then they are probably not organic.
We are proud that Dr. Bronner’s soap products are made with Regenerative Organic Certified oils, and certified under the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP). This is a food standard. We believe that regardless of whether the agricultural ingredients are grown for use in food or personal care products, how they are grown is what matters most for the well-being of humans, the environment, and animals.
In fact, Dr. Bronner’s was the first personal care products company to achieve USDA NOP certification. The USDA NOP has strict rules about what types of ingredients are allowed into certified organic products. Many personal care products use synthetic ingredients as a large percentage of their formulation. So they don’t qualify. Based on the definitions of the USDA NOP, given the high mineral content of our toothpaste, that product does not qualify. Instead, it’s certified to the NSF/ANSI 305 organic standard for cosmetics.
This standard is modelled after the USDA NOP, but includes more flexibility. One of the limitations of the organic standards is that they don’t necessarily include direct measurements of safety, quality, or function. And these factors often drive personal care product purchasing. Dr. Bronner’s proudly certifies our products to EWG Verified to demonstrate the safety of our formulations and ingredients to consumers.
Would you say the sustainability standards in the self-care industry have improved or degraded over the past decade?
I would say they’ve stayed about the same. We are hoping that with the emergence of the ROC standard, and building it out for personal care, that this may further enhance sustainability in the personal care product industry.
What are some of the most egregious examples of greenwashing you have seen lately?
Greenwashing is rampant. Particularly here in the US, where there are so few checks and balances on claims compared to in the EU and other parts of the world. In the past few years we have been communicating our concerns to B Lab about the rise in large multinational companies like Nestlé Health Science and Unilever Australia receiving B Corp certification.
B Corp certification has the potential to increase the number of purpose-driven companies in the world. But our concern is about them not requiring credible eco-social certifications of the supply chains of large multinational companies. Especially companies with problematic social and environmental impact histories. We recently decided that our only option was to not renew our B Corp certification.
While we have a lot of respect for the truly purpose-drive companies that will remain B Corp Certified, we could no longer stand by while B Lab fails to address our concerns.
We know that you no longer trust B Corp. But what are your thoughts on ESG scores? Do you participate in that scheme?
ESG scoring can be meaningful. But having higher scores in some areas should not be used to cover up flailing entirely in others. In particular, for consumer products the rubber meets the road with how the actual product ingredients are produced and sourced. These should be certified by credible eco-social certifications.
What are your thoughts? Do you still trust B Corp? Let us know in the comments, below!
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