TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE

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Meaning and definition of TBL
Triple bottom line is abbreviated as TBL or 3BL.3ps people, planet
and profit or three pillars of sustainability . It in traditional business
accounting and common usage, the "bottom line refers to either
the profit or loss, which is usually recorded at the very bottom
line on a statement of revenue and expenses. Over the last 50 years,
environmentalists and social justice advocates have struggled to
bring a broader definition of bottom line into public consciousness by
introducing full cost accounting. For example, if a corporation shows
a monetary profit, but their asbestos mine causes thousands of
deaths from asbestosis, and their copper mine pollutes a river, and
the government ends up spending taxpayer money on health care
and river clean-up, how do we perform a full societal cost benefit
analysis? The triple bottom line adds two more "bottom lines: social
and environmental (ecological) concerns.
[3]
With the ratification of
the United Nations and ICLEI TBL standard for urban and community
accounting in early 2007,
[4]
this became the dominant approach
to public sector full cost accounting. Similar UN standards apply to
natural capital and human capital measurement to assist in
measurements required by TBL, e.g. the EcoBudget standard for
reporting ecological footprint. The TBL seems to be fairly widespread
in South African media, as found in a 1990-2008 study of worldwide
national newspapers.
[5]

profit, but earning income by offering opportunities for handicapped
people who have been labelled "unemployable", to earn a living
recycling. The organization earns a profit, which is controlled by a
volunteer Board, and ploughed back into the community. The social
benefit is the meaningful employment of disadvantaged citizens, and
the reduction in the society's welfare or disability costs. The
environmental benefit comes from the recycling accomplished. In
the private sector, a commitment to CSR implies a commitment to
transparent reporting about the business' material impact for good
on the environment and people. Triple bottom line is one framework
for reporting this material impact. This is distinct from the more
TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
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limited changes required to deal only with ecological issues. The
triple bottom line has also been extended to encompass four pillars,
known as the quadruple bottom line (QBL). The fourth pillar denotes
a future-oriented approach (future generations, intergenerational
equity, etc.). It is a long-term outlook that sets sustainable
development and sustainability concerns apart from previous social,
environmental, and economic considerations.
[6]

According to Slaper and Hall (2011) The challenges of putting the TBL
into practice relate to the measurement of social and ecological
categories: Finding applicable data and determining how a project or
policy contributes to sustainability. Despite this, the TBL framework
enables organizations to take a longer-term perspective and thus
evaluate the future consequences of decision

Three bottom lines include:
People (Human Capital)
The triple bottom line consists of social equity, economic,
and environmental factors. "People, planet and profit"
succinctly describes the triple bottom lines and the goal
of sustainability. The phrase, "people, planet, profit", was
coined by John Elkington in 1994 while at SustainAbility, and
was later adopted as the title of the Anglo-Dutch oil company
Shell's first sustainability report in 1997. As a result, one
country in which the 3P concept took deep root was The
Netherlands.
"People" pertains to fair and beneficial business practices
toward labour and the community and region in which a
corporation conducts its business. A TBL company conceives
a reciprocal social structure in which the well-being of
corporate, labour and other stakeholder interests are
interdependent.
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An enterprise dedicated to the triple bottom line seeks to
benefit many constituencies and not to exploit or endanger
any group of them. The "upstreaming" of a portion of profit
from the marketing of finished goods back to the original
producer of raw materials, for example, a farmer in fair
trade agricultural practice, is a common feature. In concrete
terms, a TBL business would not use child labour and monitor
all contracted companies for child labour exploitation, would
pay fair salaries to its workers, would maintain a safe work
environment and tolerable working hours, and would not
otherwise exploit a community or its labour force. A TBL
business also typically seeks to "give back" by contributing to
the strength and growth of its community with such things as
health care and education. Quantifying this bottom line is
relatively new, problematic and often subjective. The Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) has developed guidelines to enable
corporations and NGOs alike to comparably report on the
social impact of a business.
"People" (human capital) pertains to fair and beneficial
business practices toward labor and the community and
region in which a corporation conducts its business. A TBL
company conceives a reciprocal social structure in which the
well-being of corporate, labor and other stakeholder
interests are interdependent. A triple bottom line enterprise
seeks to benefit many constituencies, not exploit or
endanger any group of them.


Main ideas of TBL with respect to people
Fair wages to workers
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Proper working conditions and welfare facilities
Implementation of health and safety measures
Tolerable working hours
Avoiding child labour practices
Do not exploit a community or its labour force
Planet
"Planet" (natural capital) refers to sustainable environmental
practices. A TBL company endeavors to benefit the natural
order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and
minimise environmental impact. A TBL endeavour reduces
its ecological footprint by, among other things, carefully
managing its consumption of energy and non-renewables
and reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste
less toxicbefore disposing of it in a safe and legal manner.
"Cradle to grave" is uppermost in the thoughts of TBL
manufacturing businesses, which typically conduct a life cycle
assessment of products to determine what the true
environmental cost is from the growth and harvesting of raw
materials to manufacture to distribution to eventual disposal
by the end user. A triple bottom line company does not
produce harmful or destructive products such as weapons,
toxic chemicals or batteries containing dangerous heavy
metals, for example.
Currently, the cost of disposing of non-degradable or toxic
products is borne financially by governments and
environmentally by the residents near the disposal site and
elsewhere. In TBL thinking, an enterprise which produces and
markets a product which will create a waste problem should
not be given a free ride by society. It would be more
equitable for the business which manufactures and sells a
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problematic product to bear part of the cost of its ultimate
disposal.
Ecologically destructive practices, such as overfishing or
other endangering depletions of resources are avoided by
TBL companies. Often environmental sustainability is the
more profitable course for a business in the long run.
Arguments that it costs more to be environmentally sound
are often specious when the course of the business is
analyzed over a period of time. Generally, sustainability
reporting metrics are better quantified and standardized for
environmental issues than for social ones. A number of
respected reporting institutes and registries exist including
the Global Reporting Initiative, CERES, Institute 4
Sustainability and others.
Planet" (natural capital) refers to sustainable environmental
practices. A TBL company endeavors to benefit the natural
order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and
curtail environmental impact. A TBL endeavor reduces its
ecological footprint by, among other things, carefully
managing its consumption of energy and non-renewables
and reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste
less toxic before disposing of it in a safe and legal manner.





Main ideas of TBL with respect to planet
Reducing manufacturing waste
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Proper waste management practices
Managing consumption of non- renewable resources
Proper implementation of government rules and
regulations relating to environment
Not to indulge in production of harmful or destructive
products
Profit"
is the economic value created by the organization after
deducting the cost of all inputs, including the cost of the
capital tied up. It therefore differs from traditional
accounting definitions of profit. In the original concept,
within a sustainability framework, the "profit" aspect needs
to be seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed by the host
society. It is the real economic impact the organization has
on its economic environment. This is often confused to be
limited to the internal profit made by a company or
organization (which nevertheless remains an essential
starting point for the computation). Therefore, an original
TBL approach cannot be interpreted as simply traditional
corporate accounting profit plus social and environmental
impacts unless the "profits" of other entities are included as
a social benefit. "Profit" is the economic value created by the
organization after deducting the cost of all inputs, including
the cost of the capital tied up. It therefore differs from
traditional accounting definitions of profit. In the original
concept, within a sustainability framework, the "profit"
aspect needs to be seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed
by the host society. It is the real economic impact the
TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
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organization has on its economic environment. This is often
confused to be limited to the internal profit made by a
company or organization (which nevertheless remains an
essential starting point for the computation). Therefore, an
original TBL approach cannot be interpreted as simply
traditional corporate accounting profit plus social and
environmental impacts unless the "profits" of other entities
are included as a social benefits.
Argument for tbl
Triple bottom line thinking holds that a company should
combine standard metrics of financial success with those that
measure environmental stewardship and social justice. It is
sometimes called the 3P approach -- People, Planet and
Profits. In each case it requires thinking in three dimensions,
not one.

Triple bottom line isn't new. When John Elkington first
mentioned it in the mid 1990's, he also laid the groundwork
for defining environmental and social impacts of a company's
activities.

Today, quantifiable environmental impacts include
consumption of finite resources, water quality and
availability, and pollution emitted. Social impacts include
community health, worker safety, education quality, and
diversity
Reaching untapped market potential
Triple bottom line companies can find financially
profitable niches which wre missed when money alone
was the driving factor
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For eg.: providing products or services which benefit
underserved population and/or environment which are
also financially profitable
Adapting to new business sectors
Since many business opportunities are developing in the
area of social entrepreneurship, businesses hoping to
reach this expanding market must design themselves to
be financially profitable, socially beneficial and
ecologically sustainable. Otherwise, they will not be able
to compete with those businesses who follow such
practices.
Enhances corporate Image
If a business follows TBL activities properly, them it will
help to develop a positive image for the business.
Enhanced goodwill and reputation will, on the one hand
attract better employees to join such firms, and on the
other hand attracts more customers. A good image also
attracts investors to invest and could attract favours
from Government.
Improves customer's confidence
If a business adopts TBL approach it will create a
confidence among customers about the business. The
customers have more trust and confidence in the
business that follows TBL approach. They believe that
such businesses will not cheat them
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Support from society
If a business adopts TBL approach and contributes
toward the society, then the business will be readily
accepted and survival of business.
Arguments against TBL
From the article's "Arguments Against" section:
"Effectiveness. It is observed that concern for social and
environmental matters is rare in poor societies (a hungry
person would rather eat the whale than photograph it). As a
society becomes richer its citizens develop an increasing
desire for a clean environment and protected wildlife, and
both the willingness and financial ability to contribute to this
and to a compassionate society. Indeed support for the
concept of the 'Triple Bottom Line' itself is said to be an
example of the choices available to the citizens of a society
made wealthy by businesses attending to business. Thus by
unencumbered attention to business alone, Adam Smith's
Invisible Hand will ensure that business contributes most
effectively to the improvement of all areas of society, social
and environmental as well as economic."
While there is obviously some truth to this, what I believe
this argument overlooks is that the mentioned "richness"
(and clean-ness, and willingness and financial ability) of
developed, rich nations is often secured by, and possibly
dependent upon, resources coming from lesser-developed
nations. For one thing, these resources may be less depleted
than in a longer-developed rich nation; for another, the need
within the poorer nations may be such that they will sell their
labor, resources, and productive capacity cheaply. Though
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this often desperate, highly competitive market participation
on the part of poorer nations benefits rich nations in terms of
cheaper raw materials and consumer goods (and provides
jobs in the poorer nations), it very frequently contributes to
the poor social and environmental conditions in the poorer
nations. So aren't these social and environmental
"conditions" in the poorer nations often the
"externalized costs" of the richer nations? I don't believer this
figured into Adam Smith's thinking... or am I wrong?--Joel
Russ 22:10, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
The truism that as a nation becomes wealthier, they
become ecologists, ignores the fact that everyone, no
matter how poor, basically wants a healthy ecology. The
process of "creating wealth" is based on consuming the
natural resources, using fuel and chemicals to modify
those resources, and thus polluting the ecology.
Simultaneous with the rise of "wealth", people become
conscious that the process creates pollution, and then
demand that the pollution be controlled. Likewise, they
demand workers' rights. Eventually, they start to realize
that all this development was enabled by their
governments' participation in a neoliberal compacts
with the North, and demand a cessation of
neoliberalism. That little phrase that Americans say,
about poor nations becoming wealthier, and then going
eco, is pure neoliberal smoke-and-mirrors to hide the
fact that it's pollution and so-called "development"
that's causing the pollution, and that's inspiring
ecological revolt. 66.245.194.238 17:47, 28 May 2007
(UTC)
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Nationalism might be good, if the Nation does not only
take care of its own people first, but also of its own nature.
Nationalism is often helpful in the absence of proper laws
dealing with globalization, multi-national companies,
carelessness or intentional damage.
Nationalism today means responding to the issues of
"citizens" while issues concerning everyone else outside
the country (and often, non-citizen immigrant) are
ignored. That is unsustainable, because the costs of
pollution, health, and natural resource conservation can
be externalized. 66.245.194.238 17:47, 28 May 2007
(UTC)
The "Arguments against" section needs work. It seems
odd that the deep conceptual criticisms are not noted.
There is at least one scholarly criticism (MacDonald &
Norman) in a top-ranked peer-reviewed journal, yet the
criticisms in that article are absent here. I can't add it
myself, of course, without violating Wikipedia norms
about conflict of interest.







Division of labour
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Business activities are primarily focused on fulfilling
the economic obligations. But, in case business gets engaged
in fulfilling the economic obligations. The division of labor is
the specialization of cooperating individuals who perform
specific tasks and roles. Because of the large amount of
labour saved by giving workers specialised tasks in Industrial
Revolution-era factories, classical economists such as Adam
Smith and mechanical engineers such as Charles
Babbage were proponents of division of labour. Also, having
workers perform single or limited tasks eliminated the long
training period required to train craftsmen, who were
replaced with lesser paid but more productive unskilled
workers.
[1]
2014 Historically, an increasingly complex division
of labour is associated with the growth of total output
and trade, the rise of capitalism, and of the complexity
of industrialized processes. The concept and implementation
of division of labour has been observed in
ancient Sumerian (Mesopotamian) culture, where
assignment of jobs in some cities coincided with an increase
in trade and economic interdependence. In addition to trade
and economic interdependence, division of labour generally
increases both producer and individual worker productivity.

Application
One of the major weaknesses on the TBL. Framework is
its ability to be applied in a monetary- based economic
system. It is not possible measure the benefits to the
society and environment in monetary terms. In this
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regards it becomes difficult for business to recognize the
benefits of using TBL for the company itself
Criticism from the left
Triple bottom line is viewed as an attempt by otherwise
exploitative corporation to avoid legislation and taxation
an generate a fictitious people-friendly image for PR
issues
Inertia
In common usage the term "inertia" may refer to an
object's "amount of resistance to change in velocity"
(which is quantified by its mass), or sometimes to
its momentum, depending on the context. The term
"inertia" is more properly understood as shorthand for
"the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in
his First Law of Motion: that an object not subject to any
net external force moves at a constant velocity. Thus, an
object will continue moving at its current velocity until
some force causes its speed or direction to change
Nationalism
Some countries adopt a nationalistic approach with the view
that they must look after their own citizens first. This view
that they must look after their own citizens first. This view is
not suitable for overall development of society and
environment protection.