B Corp 2.0 | Human Rights

The intended outcome of the new Human Rights impact topic is simple: B Corps treat people with dignity and respect their human rights. To achieve this, companies must practice human rights due diligence and remediation through a company’s culture, policies, and procedures, for example. Under the old standards, human rights were an implicit topic, embedded in several parts of the BIA. The new standards take a welcome, explicit approach by elevating it as its own impact topic.

Why is This Topic Important to the World?

Human rights violations within corporate operations remain a significant concern around the world. In 2024, the International Labour Organization reported that 27.6 million people are subjected to forced labour globally, with 86% occurring in the private sector. In addition to this, underpayment, abuse, poor or hazardous working conditions and illegal hours remain entrenched in supply chains.

“It’s a big and perhaps daunting scope, but the key to due diligence is knowing where to focus”, says B Lab’s Senior Social Standards Manager, Bernard Gouw. He explains that companies must remain self-aware, proactive, and sincere in assessing how their operations impact people’s lives. The ultimate goal is for human rights due diligence to become second nature—just as food safety and financial due diligence are now standard business practices. By embedding human rights into their core strategies, companies can play a vital role in advancing global standards and preventing harm.

Why Will This Topic Make Businesses More Resilient?

Businesses that proactively manage human rights risks are better equipped to navigate regulatory changes, avoid reputational damage, and build trust with stakeholders.  By integrating human rights considerations into core operations, companies can streamline processes, strengthen supply chain relationships, and gain a competitive edge in markets increasingly focused on ethical practices.

Respecting human rights helps companies attract and retain talent, secure access to new markets, and foster stronger relationships with suppliers and communities. The new Human Rights impact topic will promote proactive risk management and foster stakeholder trust. Ultimately, this approach enables businesses to build long-term resilience, adapt to evolving societal expectations, and contribute to a more equitable and sustainable global economy.

What’s Required in This Topic? 

To meet the new B Corp standards under the Human Rights impact topic, companies must fulfil several key requirements:

• Human Rights risk assessment: Companies must identify, assess, and address actual and potential human rights impacts within their value chain. 
• Strategy creation: Document your processes for due diligence and create an action plan to establish accessible channels for stakeholders to raise concerns or report abuses, and to provide timely, effective remediation when rights are violated.
• Transparency and reporting: Businesses must regularly report on their human rights due diligence processes, findings, and actions to relevant stakeholders, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• Policy commitment: Codify these practices into a public policy commitment to respect internationally recognized human rights, approved by the highest governing body.

How Can Your Company Prepare? 

To align with B Corp 2.0’s new Human Rights standards, your company should start by identifying your salient human rights risks, either as a part of your double materiality assessment or through a gap analysis and supplier risk assessment. Then it’s a question of designing an action plan to establish due diligence as part of the company’s strategic approach to identify potential human rights impacts. All companies will need a codified policy to guide employees in contributing to an effective culture and robust operations. Depending on the size and the sector, companies will have to tailor their approach and processes to their own context, and Junxion can help you understand exactly what is required for your company. 

Looking for support from a partner? Whether you want support with the new B Corp standards or want to upgrade your human rights strategy within your organization, we can help. For over 25 years, we’ve been using sustainability to strengthen companies. Get in touch now.