Triple Bottom Line Accounting

In order to pursue the goal of sustainability, corporate and government leaders must manage companies and economies in terms of balancing and optimizing the triple bottom line of social, environmental, and economic impacts. The Triple Bottom Line concept, also known as the "3Ps" ("People, Planet, and Profit"), is both a metaphor for thinking about sustainability as well as the basis for a practical framework for accounting and reporting on organizations' activities and impacts. The TBL concept borrows the well-known and widely accepted idea of financial accounting and its "bottom line" and expands it. Learning Outcomes Explain the triple bottom line (TBL) concept and its three pillars of "People, Planet, and Profits" Describe the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) TBL accounting framework Explain how economic, environmental, and social performance indicators are developed Discuss how TBL accounting measures an organization's sustainability performance Outline the criticisms of TBL accounting Describe best practices for TBL accounting