What does the B stand for?

Measuring a company’s entire social and environmental impact

B Corp is an internationally renowned hallmark and represents a corporate concept which does not only act on the maxim of profit maximisation, but is equally committed to transparency, environmental protection and social responsibility. Therefore, B Corp is measuring a company’s entire social and environmental impact.

What‘s the « B Corp Movement »?

B Corp stands for « Certified B Corporations » and is a corporate certification. It was launched in the US in 2006. Its goal is to redefine the declared success of a company. This means that the focus should not be on the economic profit of a company, but on a sustainable concept that is committed to the environment and a fair society.

B Lab’s mission

Is to transform the global economy for the benefit of all people and the planet. The global network develops standards, guidelines, tools and programmes for companies and certifies companies that are leading the way – known as B Corps. To date, the global network includes over 5,000 B Corps in 80 countries and 155 industries.

Certified B Corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Sympatex is one of the first German companies to be B Corp certified. In 2019, 2021 and 2022, we as a company were also awarded “Best of the World” by B Corp.

Best for the World 2022

Being recognized as a “Best for the World” B Corp is so much more than just a badge of honor. It represents the opportunity to share your business’s top-scoring knowledge, learnings, and best practices with the rest of the community. You’re helping the B Corp movement make progress towards the collective goal and vision: to transform the global economic system to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.

Every year, B Lab awards the best-performing B Corps. This year, 11 certified B Corps in Germany receive the award, including Sympatex. Best for the World » is the award given to a B Corp-certified company if it is among the top 5% in the world in its respective size group in one of the five impact areas – community, customers, environment, governance and employees.

« We are grateful and happy about the repeated award in the category « Environment » and take it as motivation to continue to put our efforts into the service of a fairer society and a cleaner environment »

Nicole Hühn, CSR Management at Sympatex

Sympatex & B Corp

Sympatex is B Corp certified since 2019. For the third time in 4 years, Sympatex earned this honor because of its uncompromised strategic focus and consistent action towards a sustainable and circular textile industry. Such action includes its involvement in collaborative initiatives such a Accelerating Circularity Europe (ACPE), being founding member of the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action (UNFCCC) and its efforts to avoid microsplastic.

The joint mission is to reclose the textile loop by supplying polyester based monomaterials and implementing commercial systems in which textile waste is repurposed as raw material through reuse and recycling, and therefore ensure that they are not incinerated or sent to landfills.

Discover more how Sympatex’s takes over responsibility here.

What benefits does B Corp certification offer consumers?

For consumers, it is difficult to decide from the outside how serious companies are about their promises to protect the environment. The strict B Corp certification, which even requires a change in the articles of association, makes it easy to distinguish a truly forward-looking, sustainable company from those that just have a good marketing team. So-called « greenwashing » is therefore difficult with B Corp. Katja Bartholmess from B Corp Germany even emphasises: « With B Corp-certified products, you can be sure that they come from companies that regularly have their social and ecological impact independently tested and are not just out for profit at any price. »

About the B Corp certification

B Corp certification assesses not just a product or service, but the overall social and environmental impact of the company behind it. To achieve B Corp certification, a company must score at least 80 points in the B Impact Assessment and pass a risk assessment that evaluates a company’s negative impacts.  B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. In order to achieve certification, a company must:

  • Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing our risk review. Multinational corporations must also meet baseline requirement standards.
  • Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
  • Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.

To maintain certification, Certified B Corps must update their impact assessment and verify their updated score every three years.

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