SUSTAINABLE GROWTH- THE 3BL APPROACH

“Every action you take in business has two components: an impact on profits and an impact on the world” Quote from Triple Bottom Line by Andrew W Savitz and Karl Weber.

                           Image courtesy of Sustainability Partnership International

               

Triple Bottomline, abbreviated as TBL or 3BL, and also known as people (fair and equitable HR practices , planet (sustainable environmental practices) , profit (economic value creation)   captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring, assessing and reporting the  economic, environmental and social success of organizations, corporations, projects or processes.

With the environmental degradation caused by the irreversible use of natural resources causing serious threat to the long term viability of the planet, the net contribution of the carbon foot print is becoming an important measure of the corporate’s responsible approach to the survival of the planet and passing on a better life to our younger generations.

Companies with focus on Triple Bottom Line understand that business success is not just measured by financial performance but also by the impact on the overall society.

A TBL focussed company aims to limit the economic damage caused by the processes it undertakes to produce & deliver and also undertake to take necessary activities through the lifecycle of its products, services to minimize their carbon footprint.

Recycling of waste, use of renewable resources, conservation of natural resources, discouraging over exploitation of natural resources, reduction of consumption of products and services that lead to excess creation of environmentally hazardous waste, treatment of hazardous waste generated by them  etc. are some of the activities necessarily undertaken by companies focussed on Long term Sustainability.

Correspondingly the leading companies across the world now proactively disclose in their annual reports, the various steps and standing across various metrics relating to the company’s efforts for a sustainable environment.

While it involves higher expenses and investments for organisations to follow such admirable processes, they indeed payoff in the long run as,

i)                    Consumers across the globe are increasingly patronising products and services of those organizations which are demonstrating their commitment to the environmental preservation,

ii)                  Investors give higher valuation to companies committed to sustained development &

iii)                It is also financially remunerative to be a negative carbon foot print company due to government subsidies, incentives and profits on sale of Carbon credits.

Some of the actions taken by the world’s leading companies

Hewlett Packard- HP owns and opens enormous “e-waste” recycling plants that shred discarded, obsolete computer products into raw materials that can be recycled into the industrial food chain. HP has also agreed to take back computer equipment of all brands, and has taken steps to ensure that its own products are 100% recyclable in the manner discussed above.

TESCO:  This British grocery chain has enlisted its customer base in the fight to go green by offering savings to shoppers who bring reusable shopping bags to their stores. The company has also turned each of its stores into wind-powered, high-recycling, biodiesel truck delivered epicenters of environmental sustainability, running at such high efficiency Ralph Nader would be beside himself. In another major breakthrough, Tesco is aiming to estimate the “carbon costs” of each item it sells.

Bank of America:  Internal recycling paper of over 30000 tonnes, incentivising employees to buy hybrid vehicles.

Starbucks :  With the company’s decision to use coffee cup sleeves made of recycled paper saving over a lakh trees per year,  Starbucks has also partnered up with many environmental organizations, from Conservation International to the Earthwatch Institute, in efforts to do right by the communities it operates in.

Walmart:  Committed to using its waste-eliminating corporate philosophy to make its own operations more eco-friendly; launched an ambitious longterm plan to eventually power each of its stores use 100% renewable energy sources.

Coca-cola: Coca-Cola has narrowed down 3 environmental goals on which to focus their efforts: waterstewardship, sustainable packaging, and climate & energy protection. Each of these initiatives is detailed and explained at their corporate website. Involved in community recycling programs and a complete, sustainability-focused overhaul of its packaging designs.

Dell: Through its “no computer should go to waste” recycling program, Dell allows customers to return any Dell-branded product back to the company – for free. The company has even gone so far as to establish programs that accept computers, monitors, or printers from other companies for safe disposal, as well.

In India companies like Wipro, ITC Group,  HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Suzlon, Hero Motors, Idea Cellular etc, are leading the group of 3BL focussed organizations working towards a sustainable environment.
Many of these companies are undertaking humongous constructions to house their ever grwoing staff. To ensure that they are following environmentally friendly practicses, these companies follow the guidelines laid out by the LEED Rating system.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and spearheaded by Robert K. Watson, Founding Chairman LEED Steering Committee from 1995 until 2006, LEED ( Leadership in energy and environmental design) is intended to provide building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

LEED 2009 is a third party certification system and a suite of rating system to assess the environmental impact of constructions. LEED-India Green Building Rating System is a nationally and internationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings

In LEED 2009 there are 100 possible base points distributed across five major credit categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, plus an additional 6 points for Innovation in Design and an additional 4 points for Regional Priority. Buildings can qualify for four levels of certification:

• Certified: 40–49 points
• Silver: 50–59 points
• Gold: 60–79 points
• Platinum: 80 points and above

The LEED for Homes rating system is different from LEED v3, with different point categories and thresholds that reward efficient residential design.

Points  "based on the potential environmental impacts and human benefits of each credit." are distributed across major credit categories such as Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality.

Infosys which has undertaken some of the largest constructions in India, consistently achieved the level of 'Pllatinum ratings' for its buildings by Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) .Infosys has over 3 buildings with a  building area of 780,000 sq ft, as  Platinum rated.  

These are just some of the many cases of globally admired and eminently successful organizations leading the movement towards a sustainable environment.

Switching to 'Renewables' generates jobs, skills, purpose, power, wealth, future, resilience, autonomy, freedom, unity: Sustainable Society - Dave Hampton, Carbon Coach