Any firm achieving B Corporation certification would once have automatically earned widespread respect for meeting the high ESG standards set by the awarding body, B Lab. But public faith in this ethical business movement has been shaken over the past year as the credentials of some B Corps have attracted critical scrutiny.
In June 2022, for instance, a group of more than 30 B Corps aired concerns about Nespresso’s certification, arguing that it risked diluting the “integrity of the movement”. Among their problems with the Nestlé subsidiary were the levels of waste generated by the firm’s single-use coffee pods and the alleged use of child labour by some of its suppliers.
In December, BrewDog relinquished its certification after B Lab asked it to meet additional criteria. The request came after the brewer’s controversial founder and CEO, James Watt, had been publicly accused by his staff of creating a “rotten culture”.