Pros and Cons of the Triple Bottom Line
Local leeks helping me achieve my Triple Bottom Line.
A lot of people in the world of sustainable business talk about the "Triple Bottom Line." In this post, I'll tell you what the Triple Bottom Line is and explain the pros and cons of this business model.
What is the Triple Bottom Line?
The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is a conceptual tool that companies use to prioritize sustainability and social betterment. More specifically, companies that follow the TBL business model claim to equally prioritize three pillars (or "bottom lines"): people, planet and profit. The TBL emphasizes that it is not enough for businesses to focus solely on gaining profit — they also have to help build healthy communities and a healthy planet.
Companies that follow the TBL model often have strong sustainability plans and work with community leaders or activist groups to give back to their communities. For example, in the world of food, Sister Pie in Detroit, Michigan adheres to the TBL model by providing their employees with fair wages, composting and recycling and sourcing their ingredients locally. This way, Sister Pie is helping people by supporting both their employees and local farmers, caring for the planet by responsibly disposing of their waste and making a mean profit. Below are the pros and cons of the TBL business model.
Pros
The TBL recognizes changes in the business world
The TBL is a fairly new concept, with John Elkington creating the phrase just over 20 years ago in 1994. Although the TBL was just recently coined, businesses have been adopting socially and environmentally responsible practices for decades, and arguably even centuries. For example, as unions demanded better working conditions in the 1700s, conservationists demanded more efficient resource use in the late 1800s and consumers demanded less pollution in the late 1900s, businesses were forced to recognize the importance of factors besides their profit. The TBL names this trend toward sustainability and social responsibility, which gives the trend more legitimacy and power in the business world.
The TBL encourages environmental sustainability
Placing equal value on profit and the planet is a major step in the right direction for the business world. For basically as long as businesses have existed in the U.S., they have been draining environmental resources, causing massive pollution and creating other environmental problems. The TBL recognizing that without consideration for the planet, businesses will drain or pollute their resources faster than those resources can replenish and thus, the businesses will not survive. This recognition can help us all live in less polluted, more diverse and more productive environments.
The TBL doesn't ignore social concerns
Some environmentalists focus exclusively on solving environmental problems while placing social activism on the backburner. However, surviving and thriving during the climate crisis and beyond requires a stable foundation of race and gender equality, greater economic equality and more resilient communities overall. For this reason, social crises matter just as much as environmental crises. The TBL acknowledges that without high standards for human rights, equality and healthy communities, companies will not gain consumer support and will be forced to close their doors.
Cons
The TBL doesn't include specific guidelines
The TBL is just a vague model that businesses can choose to pursue. Not all campanies have to follow the TBL, and those that claim to follow the TBL aren't required to change their behaviors, nor are they monitored by an outside party. This means that businesses could easily preach about the TBL while doing nothing to back up those words. Additionally, businesses that are trying to be more sustainable may want to adopt the TBL, but have no idea where to start or how to track their progress since the TBL does not include guidelines. Thus, the TBL by itself lacks both accountability and practicality.
The TBL could become meaningless
This “con” goes hand-in-hand with the previous point. Because the TBL does not include guidelines, any company can claim to follow the TBL. If every business claims that they are adopting the Triple Bottom Line, while doing little or nothing to encourage social and environmental progress, the term could lose its power. Similar to green claims on food labels, the TBL could become an overused and meaningless tactic meant to catch consumers' attention.
The TBL encourages Status-Quo capitalism
Okay, so this one is admittedly more complex than just a "con" because capitalism itself has both pros and cons. However, in terms of our environment, the current capitalist system in the U.S. has mostly proven to be a con. One major environmental downfall of capitalism is that it encourages consumers to buy things that they don't need. In the U.S. and across the world, this focus on consumerism has led to excessive use of resources and massive environmental degradation.
Unfortunately, the TBL encourages status-quo capitalism because it is a tool designed for businesses (aka the heart of capitalism). The TBL implies that we can live sustainably by simply tweaking current business models to accommodate for people and the planet. Realistically, tweaking business models is not enough to significantly mitigate the effects of climate change. Instead, businesses need to radically change their resource use, disposal methods and other basic procedures. Perhaps they even need to favor people and the planet above their profit. To create lasting change, businesses and consumers need to transform the entire system rather than simply working TBL principles into current business models.