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Building on the Past: The Triple Bottom Line

The sustainable development agenda is still viewed by many as essentially being about eco-efficiency – some combination of the economic and environmental bottom lines. But after twenty years of fighting off any involvement with the social and ethical aspects of the agenda, growing numbers of business leaders are beginning to talk in terms of the triple bottom line, as social responsibility aligns with environmental quality and economic prosperity.

The Foundation aims to promote this trend, but time is short and there is still a very long way to go. The pace of change is likely to be intense and the consequences for those that ignore the issues severe. As capitalism globalises and the so-called ‘CNN World’ evolves, business urgently needs to get its brain around this increasingly complex agenda.

Picking up themes from its Consultations, the Foundation's Values and Sustainability Programme engages with:

• Business – focusing on company boards, recognising the growing overlap between the corporate governance and sustainability debates and addressing the question that has routinely come up at the Foundation’s Consultations – what is business for?
• Company stakeholders – focusing mainly on NGOs, which have a real opportunity to engage with companies, challenging them to exercise their power to effect change in a responsible and constructive way; and on investors, who could become the greatest champions of social and environmental performance and reporting.
• Government at all levels – at earlier Consultations, Government representation was strong, but other sectors have tended to dominate in recent years.

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