B Corp Is the Hardest Sustainable Certification to Achieve, and These Beauty Brands Have It

Not only is Dr. Bronner's a certified B Corp, but it's also been ranked in the top 10 percent of certified corporations across all impact areas. The family soapmaker brand earned the certification due to initiatives such as regenerative organic agriculture, which involves educating their farming partners in the implementation of carbon dioxide removal farming practices. Dr. Bronner's also sources its raw materials from fair-trade projects around the world, including Ghana (palm oil), Palestine and Israel (olive oil), and Sri Lanka (coconut oil).

Despite being founded in 1858, Dr. Bronner's made it onto the B Corp 2019 "Change Makers" list, in recognition of the significant improvement to their overall impact on workers, customers, communities, the environment, and much more. Earning the title of "change maker" means a brand is setting a gold standard for managing and improving their business' social and environmental impact over time. One of these actions includes capping the total compensation of the highest-paid employees and executives at five times that of the lowest-paid position.

Key B Corp Highlights For Dr. Bronner's:

Every new parent's favorite skin-care brand has been part of the B Corp community since May 2018 and was the first French dermo-cosmetics company to receive the certification. Mustela sources plant sectors responsibly and even implemented a fair-trade policy that "protects the environment, producers, and their country of origin," according to its website. Plus, the hero ingredient in most of its products — avocado, including the pit — is also sourced from produce that would normally go to waste. In its organic line, the olive oil is sourced from family-owned olive groves in the South of France.

Key B Corp Highlights For Mustela:

From the brand that brought sustainability to the masses before the industry even considered it a priority, it's no surprise Davines became certified B Corp in 2016 with a score of 99 points. Then, in 2020, it became recertified and earned a score of 117.4 points for operating in a sustainable way and giving back to the environment.

Its philosophy, according to the brand, put simply: "The formulations favor the use of ingredients of natural origin, are generated with renewable electric energy, and packaged minimizing the environmental impact."

Key B Corp Highlights For Davines:

Since being founded in 1976, The Body Shop has strived to be a business that is a force for good and not just profit. The establishment of ethical and sustainable global initiatives has been the heart of the company.

Just some of the initiatives that helped The Body Shop gain the certification include, Community Fair Trade, Forever Against Animal Testing, re-introduction of the recycle-and-refill scheme, as well as offering volunteer days for employees outside of the business.

Christopher Davis, head of sustainability at The Body Shop, also told POPSUGAR that in order to become certified it had to change how the company is registered in the eyes of the government. The brand changed its legal status and to a Triple Bottom Line (social, environmental, financial) business, which "officially commits the business to the promise that you'll share your benefits not just with shareholders, but also for the good of people and planet". He adds: "If [The Body Shop] can't prove we are operating in this way, we would be challenged by the authorities."

Key B Corp Highlights For The Body Shop:

Launched in 2013, Beautycounter creates and distributes products across skin care, color cosmetics, and personal care collections, and has gotten not one, but two B Corp certifications (first in 2015, then in 2018). Not only did it rank high for its safer product formulations, but also for its environmentally sustainable sourcing and packaging that's been a key focus across the business.

Since its first certification, the brand reduced its chemical footprint and founded an in-house Community Expansion Department to promote progress and representation in the beauty industry.

Key B Corp Highlights For Beautycounter:

Ethique is a climate-neutral company based in the UK that uses 100 percent vegan- and sustainably-sourced ingredients. Beauty bars are their specialty with the aim of convincing people to "give up the bottle", and instead grab a shampoo or exfoliating bar. To date, the the brand has prevented over six million plastic bottle from being made and disposed.

Ethique operates honest trading by ensuring stable prices and decent working conditions for farmers and workers around the world. In addition to this, the business is totally climate-neutral and operates entirely plastic-free.

Key B Corp Highlights For Ethique:

Back in 2016, Beauty Kitchen became the first beauty brand in the UK to gain a B Corp certification. Since then, the brand continues its mission of balancing profit and purpose by using sustainably-sourced ingredients from within the UK, which reduces the business's carbon footprint and also creates jobs within local communities.

The brand continues to give back to the community with its "Beauty That Gives Back" scheme, which donates two percent of every sale to sustainable charity partners. In addition to this, the brand has a return, refill, repeat scheme, which enables customers to send their empty products back to be washed and reused in the next batch— a practice that's even more sustainable than recycling.

Key B Corp Highlights For Beauty Kitchen:

I like to think of Typology as The Ordinary's stylish French cousin. The brands are totally separate but Typology follows a similar ethos: pared-back products with only essential ingredients housed in beautifully simplistic packaging. Seriously though, Typology is the most stylish brand in my bathroom cabinet. As the brand is less than a year old, it's not yet eligible for the B Corp Certification, however, it has been given the "B Corp Pending" status.

B Labs realized that companies in its early stages "needed a way to signal to stakeholders like investors, board advisers, employees, and prospective clients that they were on track to certifying as a B Corp".

To gain this status, companies go through a B Impact Assessment with best estimate answers and must meet the legal requirements for certification.

"Typology is a company with a mission. Respectful of the environment, having a positive impact on society and supporting the client through informed communication. The whole team is proud of this milestone, which symbolizes the real commitment of our brand," says founder Ning Li.