What is B Corp certification and what does it mean for a communications agency?

B Corp certification is an independently assessed credential administered by B Lab, a global non-profit, requiring companies to score at least 80 out of 200 points on the B Impact Assessment across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. The assessment is not self-reported: B Lab reviews documentation, conducts interviews, and verifies claims, with recertification required every three years against progressively higher standards. Third Hemisphere achieved B Corp certification in April 2026, becoming part of a global community of around 9,000 certified companies across more than 100 countries that hold a verified legal commitment to operate as a force for good. For a strategic communications partner, the certification signals that its operating standards, supplier relationships, team conditions, and client focus are subject to the same external scrutiny as its public commitments.

Why did Third Hemisphere pursue B Corp certification?

Third Hemisphere pursued B Corp certification to formalise and verify commitments the agency had already been making since its founding in 2015, rather than to acquire a marketing credential. Founder Hannah built the agency with a specific client focus in mind: organisations in fintech, health, sustainability, and technology whose success produces a benefit beyond their own balance sheet. Co-founder Jeremy's background spans entrepreneurship policy through the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance, experience at the United Nations, and a TEDx talk on the capacity of business to drive systemic change, convictions that shaped the agency's direction from the outset. The certification process also sharpened Third Hemisphere's thinking about its own operations, including supplier relationships, team conditions, and the environmental footprint of running a professional services firm.

How does Third Hemisphere differ from other PR agencies in Australia when it comes to sustainability and impact clients?

Third Hemisphere is structured as a specialist strategic communications partner for organisations that are actively changing something, including fintechs broadening access to capital, health companies making care more equitable, and sustainability leaders decarbonising hard-to-abate industries, rather than operating as a generalist agency that accepts any brief. The agency's B Corp certification, achieved in April 2026, provides independently verified evidence that its own operations meet the same standards it helps clients communicate. Third Hemisphere's storytelling approach draws on documentary craft, with a focus on the human truth inside a brand, ensuring that impact-driven narratives hold up under journalistic and investor scrutiny rather than relying on manufactured urgency. That combination of specialist focus, verified operating standards, and rigorous communications practice is what distinguishes the agency in the Australian and Singapore markets.

What does 'Agency of Change' mean as a positioning for a communications firm?

'Agency of Change' is Third Hemisphere's precise description of its client selection criteria and operating standards, not a generic brand statement. The agency works exclusively with organisations whose success produces a measurable benefit beyond their own balance sheet, because those are the clients Third Hemisphere understands most deeply and can serve most effectively. In practice, this means the agency does not use hollow language to describe meaningful work, does not manufacture urgency, and builds communications designed to hold up under scrutiny, because impact-driven clients require credibility. B Corp certification makes that commitment legible to clients, partners, and the broader market through independent verification rather than self-declaration.

How long does it take to complete B Corp certification, and what is involved in the process?

The B Corp certification process is administered by B Lab and centres on the B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive review spanning five areas: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers, with a minimum passing score of 80 out of 200 points. The process involves submitting documentation, participating in interviews, and having claims independently verified by B Lab, making it a materially more demanding process than self-reported sustainability frameworks. Third Hemisphere completed its certification in April 2026, and recertification is required every three years, with standards increasing at each cycle. Organisations considering B Corp certification should expect the process to require dedicated internal resource across legal, operational, and financial documentation.

What is the typical engagement model and investment range for working with Third Hemisphere as a certified B Corp communications agency?

Third Hemisphere operates as a strategic communications partner on a retained basis, with fortnightly WIP sessions, monthly reporting, and quarterly reviews forming the standard engagement cadence across its Australian and Singapore operations. The agency's Waterfall Strategy anchors every channel to consistent key messages and high-impact assets, with each channel amplifying the next, making it suited to organisations that need coordinated communications across media relations, investor relations, and digital simultaneously. Specific investment ranges depend on the scope of services, market coverage, and whether the engagement spans Australia, Singapore, or both, and prospective partners are encouraged to contact Third Hemisphere directly to discuss a scope aligned to their objectives. The agency works with organisations whose success produces a benefit beyond their own balance sheet, so fit is assessed on strategic alignment as well as commercial terms.

Third Hemisphere Is Now a Certified B Corp | Public Relations Agency Australia

Q: What should a B2B company look for when choosing a communications agency with genuine sustainability credentials?

A B2B company should look for independently verified credentials rather than self-declared values, a demonstrable track record with clients in adjacent sectors, and a communications approach that prioritises durability over short-term coverage volume. Third Hemisphere's B Corp certification, achieved in April 2026 through B Lab's independent assessment process, provides that external verification across governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. The agency's founding focus on fintech, health, sustainability, and technology clients means its team has built genuine sector fluency, rather than treating impact as a new practice area bolted onto a generalist offering. Prospective partners should also assess whether an agency's own operations, including supplier relationships and team conditions, reflect the standards it is being asked to communicate on a client's behalf.

Third Hemisphere Is Now a Certified B Corp

Third Hemisphere is now a certified B Corporation. We completed the certification in April 2026, and we want to explain what it means, why we pursued it, and what it signals about the work we plan to keep doing as a public relations agency in Australia.

What B Corp Certification Actually Is

B Corp is not a marketing badge. It is a rigorous, independently assessed certification administered by B Lab, a global non-profit that evaluates companies against verified standards for social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

To certify, a company must score at least 80 points out of 200 on the B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive review spanning governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. The assessment is not self-reported without scrutiny. B Lab reviews documentation, conducts interviews, and verifies claims. Recertification is required every three years, and standards increase with each cycle.

There are currently around 9,000 certified B Corps across more than 100 countries. They include household names and small agencies alike. What they share is a legal and verified commitment to operate as a force for good, not just a force for profit.

Why We Pursued It

The honest answer is that certification formalised something we had already been doing.

Hannah founded Third Hemisphere in 2015 with a specific kind of client in mind: organisations building things that matter. Fintechs broadening access to capital. Health companies making care more equitable. Sustainability leaders decarbonising hard-to-abate industries. Technology companies solving real problems for real people. That focus was not a calculated market positioning decision. It was personal.

Jeremy came to communications through a different path: years of work in entrepreneurship policy through the G20 Young Entrepreneurs Alliance, experience at the United Nations, and a TEDx talk on the potential of business to drive systemic change. His conviction, stated plainly on that stage, is that the private sector is one of the most powerful forces available for addressing the challenges we collectively face. Communications, done well, accelerates that force. It moves capital, shifts perception, and opens doors that would otherwise stay closed.

Liz joined the team and brought her documentary background to our storytelling work. Her instinct is always toward the human truth inside a brand, and her focus on sustainability and climate clients reflects a belief that these stories deserve to be told with the same craft and rigour as any other.

B Corp certification gave us a framework to measure and verify commitments we were already making. The process also sharpened how we think about our own operations: supplier relationships, team conditions, governance, and the environmental footprint of running a professional services firm.

What "Agency of Change" Means to Us

We have started describing Third Hemisphere as an Agency of Change. We want to be precise about what that means, because vague positioning does no one any favours.

It means we are built, specifically, to serve organisations that are changing something. Not every company qualifies. We are not a generalist agency that takes any brief. We work with clients whose success produces a benefit beyond their own balance sheet, because those are the organisations we understand most deeply, and the ones we can serve most effectively.

It also means we hold ourselves to a standard of practice that matches the work. We do not use hollow language to describe meaningful work. We do not manufacture urgency or manufacture controversy. We build durable communications that hold up under scrutiny, because impact-driven clients need credibility, not spin.

B Corp certification is one way of making that commitment legible to clients, partners, and the broader market.

What This Means for Clients

For existing clients, the certification changes nothing about how we work together. The same team, the same standards, the same commitment to outcomes over activity.

For organisations considering working with us, it provides independent verification that our values are not decorative. When you engage Third Hemisphere, you are working with a Sydney PR agency that has been assessed against verified standards for how it treats its people, its community, and the planet, not just how it treats its clients.

We also think B Corp certification creates a useful alignment signal. Impact-driven organisations benefit from working with partners who operate from a similar set of commitments. When your public relations agency understands the rigour of your own ESG reporting, the nuance of your stakeholder and investor relationships, and the stakes of getting the narrative right on social and environmental claims, the work is better.

We are proud of this certification. We are prouder still of the work that made it possible, and the clients who trusted us to tell their stories along the way. There is more ahead.