1.
“The Triple Bottom Line” is a
must for the survival of the
inhabitants of the planet
By
Maxwell Raansinghe

2.
• The triple bottom line is a business concept that advocates
firms should commit to measuring their social and
environmental impact—in addition to their financial
performance(Profit), the standard “bottom line.”
• It can be broken down into “three Ps”: profit, people, and
the planet.
• As such, the triple bottom line (TBL) uses the power of three —
people, planet, and profit — to measure the health and quality of a
business’ impact
• It is the way forward to rehumanize businesses in the world

3.
The Triple Bottom Line

4.
Profit
• In a capitalist economy, a firm’s success most heavily depends
on its financial performance, or the profit it generates for
shareholders.
• Strategic planning initiatives and key business decisions are
generally carefully designed to maximize profits while reducing
costs and mitigating risk.
• In the past, many firms’ goals have ended there. Now, purpose-
driven leaders are discovering they have the power to use their
businesses to effect positive change in the world without
hampering financial performance.

5.
People
• The second component of the triple bottom line highlights a
business’s societal impact, or its commitment to people.
• It’s important to make the distinction between a firm’s shareholders
and stakeholders.
• Traditionally, businesses have favored shareholder value as an
indicator of success, meaning they strive to generate value for those
who own shares of the company.
• As firms have increasingly embraced sustainability, they’ve shifted
their focus toward creating value for all stakeholders impacted by
business decisions, including customers, employees, and community
members.

6.
The Planet
• The final component of the triple bottom line is concerned with
making a positive impact on the planet.
• Since the birth of the Industrial Revolution, large corporations
have contributed a staggering amount of pollution to the
environment, which has been a key driver of climate change.
• A recent report by the Carbon Majors Database found that 100
companies in the energy sector are responsible for roughly 71
percent of all industrial emissions.

7.
• While businesses have historically been the greatest
contributors to climate change, they also hold the keys to
driving positive change.
• Many business leaders are now recognizing their responsibility
to do so.
• This effort isn’t solely on the shoulders of the world’s largest
corporations—virtually all businesses have opportunities to
make changes that reduce their carbon footprint.
• Adjustments like using ethically sourced materials, cutting down
on energy consumption, and streamlining shipping practices are
steps in the right direction.

8.
WHY IS THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE IMPORTANT?
• To some, adopting a triple bottom line approach may seem
idealistic in a world that emphasizes profit over purpose.
• Innovative companies, however, have shown time and again
that it’s possible to do well by doing good.

9.
• The triple bottom line doesn’t inherently value societal and
environmental impact at the expense of financial profitability.
• Instead, many firms have reaped financial benefits by
committing to sustainable business practices that considers
Tripple Bottom Line as a major performance indicator

10.
• The definition of “business success” is evolving
• The saying, “business as usual” now holds a new meaning. It is
in the eyes of consumers, employees, and other stakeholders
compliance standards.
• Understanding and operating through a triple bottom line
opportunities for optimization, innovation, and improvement
sectors.
• Engaging a business model with comprehensive consideration
and prosperity will ultimately lead to increased resilience and
cost savings, decreased organizational risk (i.e. supply chain
decrease in unforeseen costs, and overall success

11.
• While new business models continue to evolve, there is still much work for
sustainability professionals within every organization, no matter the industry,
sector, or job position.
• Through triple bottom line theory, sustainability change makers have the
opportunity to strategically engage colleagues and leadership.
• As a result, we all can make measurable, sustainability-focused progress in
virtually everything we do.

12.
How can businesses implement triple
bottom lines
Businesses need to reevaluate what is meant by ‘success’ at all
evels
Broader view point of TBL, it is clear that our ‘money makes the
world go round’ days are numbered
Businesses have to embed sustainability into their strategic
vision
TBL thinking should be applied to strategic decision making in
every aspect of your business
They need to assess the current status of their business and how
have they considered TBL in their business processors

13.
• They need to find gaps in the core operations and the operations
that needs to be made to sustain TBL
• Companies need to develop sustainability objectives in all sectors,such as
production,distribution,pricing, promotion,processors, people and physical
evidence
• Employees from the top management to lowest level should know
the sustainability goals
• Find strategies to attain sustainability objectives
• Necessary funds need to be allocated to achieve objectives
• Implement, monitor and control sustainability initiatives
• Evaluate the overall benefit of sustainability initiatives

14.
• As such, it requires both buy-in and action from stakeholders at
all levels — from suppliers to the shop floor.
• Practically, departmental heads and executives will need to
ensure that all measures of success are tied to the overarching
people-planet-profit objectives.
• On a truly operational level, personal performance and
employee development goals will also need to be reassessed in
confluence with the new sustainability criteria.

15.
How to measure TBL in action
• As business leaders, measurement is hard-wired into the
culture of capitalism ( Profit) ; we have daily check-ins, weekly
metrics, monthly assessments and annual reports.
• But when it comes to people and planet, how can we calculate
the impact our business has on both?
• Need to have measurements at operational level like the
metrices that are used to calculate profit

16.
Impact on Planet
• Environmentally, a business should ideally know the
quantifiable effect of its carbon emissions, electricity
consumption, waste output, biodiversity impact, and habitat
destruction.
• These metrics will need to be as specific, measurable and
actionable similar to measuring targets like revenue and profits
within your business.

17.
• Impact on People
• What is the current human cost of a company’s policies and
practices on the people that work within the company ( Internal)
and people connected to supply chain ( external)
• Internal level, that means holding internal procedures to
account: maternity allowance, fair pay, pension schemes, better
working conditions, gender equity and diversity and many more.
• External level : Audit and ensure that you have an ethical supply
chain that practices good practices in their own operations

18.
Cost and Control
• How can we truly cost and control the financial worth of human
and environmental capital?
• Some say a better (more comprehensive and more meaningful)
option is to abide by a globally recognised index, which plots
independently verified data points for cross-industry
comparison.

19.
• Some say a better (more comprehensive and more meaningful)
option is to abide by a globally recognised index, which plots
independently verified data points for cross-industry
comparison.
• Currently, 75% of the largest 250 companies in the world use
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to measure sustainability.
• Increasing efforts are made to encourage SMEs to do the
same.
• Businesses of any size can take advantage of free B Impact
Assessment tools to “measure its impact on its workers,
community and environment, and customers”.

20.
B Impact Assessment. https://www.bcorporation.net/en-
us/programs-and-tools/b-impact-assessment/
• Used by more than 150,000 businesses, the B Impact
Assessment is a digital tool that can help measure, manage,
and improve positive impact performance for environment,
communities, customers, suppliers, employees, and
shareholders; receiving a minimum verified score of 80 points
on the assessment is also the first step towards B Corp
Certification.

21.
Challenges
• Major challenge is to get the commitment of business leaders to practically
adopt sustainable practices rather than just the talk
• Voluntary action is preferred over legal enforcements
• Attitude of the shareholders need to be changed that there is a well
established business case to be sustainable
• Civil society needs to put pressure on businesses to adopt sustainable
practices
• Eco literacy as a subject should be taught at school level and in adult
education to create awareness among all citizens of the world to make “
TB”L is a very important concept for the sustenance of the world they live.

22.
Strategic Sustainable Plan for assignment