What Is the Triple Bottom Line?

The Triple Bottom Line practice relies upon three main areas of focus that, when successfully implemented together, work to achieve the ultimate goal of sustainability. These areas are the social, environmental, and economic, or in other words, the people, planet, and profit.

• People - A company that follows the principles of the Triple Bottom Line works to ensure that their development has a positive impact upon the people with which it interacts.  It would ultimately give back to the community, and be sure to never exploit or endanger any group of people.  For example, an operation that follows the Triple Bottom Line would never use child labor, and would ensure safe working conditions and fair working hours.
• Planet - A focus on environmentally sustainable practices is an essential component in the Triple Bottom Line.  Energy use and ecological footprint are carefully monitored, and reduced in any way possible.  The company would work to reduce the impact of their waste, and be cautious about the amount of resources consumed.  The “cradle to grave” process of manufacturing is also a very important idea for this aspect of the Triple Bottom Line.  Triple Bottom Line companies would not produce anything that was harmful to society, such as toxic chemicals.
• Profit - Traditionally, profit is seen as the benefit that the company receives from it’s business practices, the main objective of their actions.  However, in a Triple Bottom Line business practice, profit is measured not only by the money made for the company, but by a lasting positive role in the economic community they are a part of.

A focus on all three of these aspects by a business is essential to achieve a Triple Bottom Line business practice.  All three of these elements work to bring business interests and social interests together, making developments positive for both those inside the business, and in the surrounding community.  

To learn more about the Triple Bottom Line:

Get Sustainable
Wikipedia
Sustainable Pittsburgh
 

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.