Of the nearly 8,000 certified B Corp companies worldwide, less than 100 beauty brands have successfully attained the prestigious certification. The B Corp certification is considered one of the top sustainability certifications a company can achieve and requires that it meet certain high standards for verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability.B Lab, the nonprofit organization responsible for certifying B Corps, is currently in the process of updating its standards and raising the bar for sustainability even further. These new “ambitious yet attainable” standards are designed to replace the flexible scoring system that B Lab has employed since 2006 to assess and measure a company’s social and environmental impact. In the latest draft of the standards for B Corp certification, companies will be mandated to meet specific requirements across 10 key areas. This change might increase the complexity for brands seeking to attain or recertify their B Corp status.Barb Stegemann, founder and CEO of The 7 Virtues, is in favor of the update. The 7 Virtues was certified in January 2024, and is now the first B Corp fragrance brand at Sephora. “In my view, B corp is holding itself to the high standards it asks all of us as certified brands to uphold,” Stegemann told BeautyMatter. “B Corp is all about improving your impact on the pillars of empowering our workers, community, and environment to flourish, so for B Corp to improve its standards is a good thing for all of us.