How to Certify to the New B Corp Standards in 2026, Step by Step Guide

If a company wants to become a B Corp in 2026, the process starts in B Impact, then moves through Foundation Requirements, the Self-Assessment, evidence gathering, the legal requirement, and a third party audit. B Lab says companies applying from 2026 certify against B Lab Standards V2.1, and from submission to certification the process usually takes 2 to 6 months, depending mainly on how many major gaps need to be fixed. (Source: B Lab, 2025. Source: B Lab, 2026.)

For most teams, the hardest part is not understanding what B Corp is. The hard part is knowing where to start, what has changed, and what to prepare first. This guide keeps it simple.

What changed in the new B Corp standards for 2026?

B Lab launched its updated standards in 2025, and says that companies applying from 2026 certify against V2.1. The new model sets minimum requirements across seven Impact Topics, rather than treating certification as mainly a score-chasing exercise. B Lab also says the process now starts with Assessment Setup, Foundation Requirements, and a Risk Profile, before a company continues into the Self-Assessment. (Source: B Lab, 2025. Source: B Lab, 2026.)

The seven Impact Topics are:

• Purpose and Stakeholder Governance

• Climate Action

• Fair Work

• Human Rights

• Environmental Stewardship and Circularity

• Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

• Government Affairs and Collective Action

(Source: B Lab, 2025. Source: B Lab, 2026.)

The simple way to do it, the Check, Build, Submit plan

To keep the process easy to follow, it helps to think about B Corp in three parts:

• Check what applies to the company

• Build the policies, answers, and evidence

• Submit when the file is ready for audit

That sounds basic, but it works. Most delays happen because teams start answering questions before they have sorted the basics, or they leave evidence and legal work until the end.

Step 1: Check if the company is eligible

B Lab says the Foundation Requirements include eligibility requirements, the B Corp legal requirement, and risk assessment. It also says companies must be incorporated business entities, in operation for at least 12 months, compliant with laws and regulations, transparent in the information they share, and not materially involved in industries that undermine B Lab’s theory of change. (Source: B Lab, 2025.)

This is the right place to start, because there is no point building documents and collecting evidence if the company is not yet ready to apply.

Step 2: Create a B Impact account and complete setup

B Lab says B Impact is the free platform where companies measure themselves against the latest standards and track the certification process. It also says the certification tab creates a customised assessment based on company size, industry, and location. (Source: B Lab, 2026.)

For 2026 applicants, B Lab says the first critical step is to complete the updated Assessment Setup and Foundation Requirements, including the Risk Profile, before continuing with the Self-Assessment. (Source: B Lab, 2026.)

Step 3: Complete the Foundation Requirements

This is the first real checkpoint.

B Lab says the Foundation Requirements cover:

• eligibility

• the legal requirement

• risk assessment

It also says the risk profile is used to decide whether extra due diligence sub-requirements apply to the company. (Source: B Lab, 2025.)

In plain terms, this means the process is no longer one standard checklist for everyone. What the company needs to show depends on its size, sector, structure, and risk.

Step 4: Understand the seven Impact Topics before answering anything

A common mistake is to jump straight into the assessment.

A better approach is to review the seven topics first, then decide who owns each area. In most companies, that means getting input from operations, people, finance, legal, and sustainability early, not at the end.

A simple way to split the work is:

• Governance and legal: Purpose and Stakeholder Governance

• People and culture: Fair Work, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

• Supply chain and ethics: Human Rights

• Environment: Climate Action, Environmental Stewardship and Circularity

• Public position and influence: Government Affairs and Collective Action

B Lab says the standards are tailored to company context, including size, sector, and operating country. (Source: B Lab, 2025.)

Step 5: Complete the Self-Assessment

B Lab says every company must complete a self-assessment to achieve certification, and that auditors use it as the starting point for each audit. It also says the self-assessment lets companies evaluate how prepared they are before the audit begins. (Source: B Lab, 2026.)

This is where many teams lose time. The assessment itself is not usually the main problem. The real problem is gathering the answers, checking they are accurate, and making sure the company can prove them later.

Step 6: Build the evidence pack as you go

This is the step that usually decides whether the process feels manageable or messy.

B Lab says the initial audit is the first independent third party review of whether the policies, practices, and systems described in the self-assessment are accurate and meet the Year 0 requirements for the company’s certification track. (Source: B Lab, 2026.)

So every important answer should be backed by real evidence, such as:

• policies

• contracts or handbook wording

• board or leadership records

• supplier standards

• grievance procedures

• carbon data and methodology

• training records

• screenshots or system records

• examples that show the process is actually in use

Copyable B Corp readiness checklist

• The company has been operating for at least 12 months

• Eligibility has been checked

• B Impact setup is complete

• Foundation Requirements are complete

• Risk Profile is complete

• The seven Impact Topics have internal owners

• The Self-Assessment is in progress or complete

• The legal requirement has been reviewed

• Key policies are in place

• Evidence files are organised by topic

• Carbon data is collected

• Worker and HR evidence is collected

• Supplier and human rights evidence is collected

• One person owns the submission plan

• The company is ready to submit for audit

Step 7: Complete the legal requirement early

B Lab says Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders, which it calls stakeholder governance. It says this legal framework helps protect the company’s mission and keeps it accountable to workers, communities, customers, suppliers, the environment, and shareholders, not just shareholders alone. (Source: B Lab, 2026.)

This step often takes longer than expected, especially if there are multiple entities, outside counsel, or board approvals involved. It is much easier when legal work starts early.

Step 8: Submit for audit

B Lab’s 2026 process sets out these broad steps: company registration, Foundation Requirements review, scoping, Self-Assessment, submission, audit, audit report, corrective actions, and then certification. It also says new B Corps were due to begin certifying on the new standards from March 2026. (Source: B Lab, 2025.)

That matters because a company is not trying to submit a rough draft. It is trying to submit a file that can stand up to audit.

Step 9: Prepare for the third party audit

B Lab says the certification process is independently audited and verified by a third party, based on ISO 17021-1 requirements. It also says the initial audit is carried out by a B Lab-approved assurance provider, not by B Lab itself. (Source: B Lab, 2026.)

The audit may include:

• document review

• interviews

• checks on how policies work in practice

• remote or onsite review, depending on scope

B Lab says the audit itself is time-bound and can take between 1 and 10 days, depending on company size. (Source: B Lab, 2025. Source: B Lab, 2026.)

Step 10: Close any gaps and get certified

After the audit, the company may need to fix gaps before certification is granted.

B Lab says major nonconformities from an initial audit must be resolved within six months of the corrective action report. It also says the overall process from submission to certification is usually 2 to 6 months, depending mainly on the number of major nonconformities. (Source: B Lab, 2026.)

That is why the real job is getting the company submission ready. Clean evidence and clear ownership usually make the whole process smoother.

What makes B Corp easier, and what slows it down?

What helps

• one clear internal owner

• legal review started early

• policies already written down

• carbon data already collected

• evidence stored in one place

• leadership support from the start

What slows it down

• answers spread across spreadsheets and inboxes

• no owner for each topic

• missing policies

• leaving legal work until the end

• chasing evidence after submission has started

• trying to do everything manually

Where Ella fits

Ella’s B Corp page positions Ella as software for B Corp certification and recertification, with policies, carbon reporting, evidence tracking, and submission-ready outputs in one place. The same page also uses the line “B Corp in days, not months”. That is a strong position, as long as the promise is about getting a company ready to submit, not skipping B Lab’s audit and approval process. (Source: Ella, 2026.)

For companies that want help getting started, this is where Ella becomes useful. Instead of spending months pulling evidence together by hand, teams can use Ella to organise the work, fill policy gaps, track what is missing, and get submission ready much faster.

Put simply, B Lab still controls certification. Ella helps companies do the prep work in a fraction of the time.

Final word

For anyone asking how to get started with B Corp in 2026, the answer is simple:

1. check eligibility

2. complete Foundation Requirements

3. work through the Self-Assessment

4. gather evidence as you go

5. complete the legal requirement early

6. submit only when the file is ready for audit

That is the clearest route to B Corp under the new standards.

And for teams that want to move quickly, Ella is the practical next step. Ella helps companies get B Corp submission ready in days, not months, with the policies, carbon reporting, evidence tracking, and outputs needed to support the process. (Source: Ella, 2026.)

See how Ella helps teams get B Corp submission ready faster.