What does it mean to be a B Corp? Is that different from a public benefit corporation?Updated 6 months ago

Petaluma, Inc. is both a public benefit corporation and a Certified B Corp. 

B Corps are for-profit businesses that meet a rigorous set of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency standards established by the non-profit organization B Labs. Every B Corp must complete and pass the B Impact Assessment, which assesses the company’s performance on hundreds of factors, and may be audited by B Labs at any time to ensure accountability.

Most certified B Corps are also public benefit corporations, which is a legal structure that allows companies to identify a purpose beyond maximizing shareholder value. Prior to the creation of the public benefit corporation framework, every corporation was legally required to prioritize maximizing shareholder over all other considerations, including environmental or social impact. 

Public benefit corporations amend the legal language to require organizations to consider the impact of their decisions on workers, customers, suppliers, communities, and the environment. Shareholders can actually sue a public benefit corporation if the company is not sufficiently pursuing its public benefit mission.