Triple Bottom Line, not just Profit!

EcoVision
18 hours ago
3 min read

The triple bottom line (TBL) means measuring success in three areas instead of just profit:

People – social impact, fair labor, community well‑being
Planet – environmental impact, sustainability
Profit – financial performance

Brief History

Coined by John Elkington in 1994 as a challenge to traditional profit‑only accounting.
Popularized in the late 1990s and early 2000s as companies adopted Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
By the 2010s, investor pressure and regulation expanded TBL ideas into the more formal ESG framework.
In 2018, Elkington “recalled” the TBL concept, arguing companies had adopted it superficially, and reiterated its original purpose: a fundamental redesign of capitalism, not just better reporting.

The triple bottom line (TBL) is a business framework that expands the traditional idea of success beyond financial profit. Instead of focusing only on money, it argues that organizations should measure and manage three core dimensions:

People How the organization affects individuals and communities. This includes fair wages, safe working conditions, employee well‑being, diversity, community engagement, and the broader social impact of operations.

Planet How the organization affects the environment. This covers resource use, carbon emissions, waste management, pollution reduction, energy efficiency, and support for long‑term ecological sustainability.

Profit The traditional financial performance: revenue, costs, growth, and long‑term economic viability. (where accountants are good at account for....)

The idea is that a company is truly successful only when it operates in a way that is socially responsible, environmentally sustainable, and financially healthy. It’s widely used in sustainability reporting, ESG strategies, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Relationship to ESG From this point, you should have no doubt that the concept of TBL is closed linked the development of ESG and certain underlying framework, let look into more details:

TBL and ESG aim at the same idea: evaluating organizations beyond traditional accounting profit.
TBL is a conceptual framework (People–Planet–Profit).
ESG is a measurement and investment framework used by investors, regulators, and rating agencies.
ESG translates TBL ideas into specific metrics:
- Environmental → emissions, waste, resource use
- Social → labor practices, safety, community
- Governance → leadership, ethics, accountability (this element isn’t explicit in TBL)

Relationship to sustainability

TBL is often viewed as an early foundation for modern sustainability strategy.
It pushes organizations to aim for long‑term viability by balancing social, environmental, and economic goals.
Sustainability reporting today (GRI, ISSB, CSRD, etc.) uses principles that grew out of TBL thinking.

Without surprise, many companies and reporting frameworks area already using the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) either directly or as an influence. It’s less common as a formal reporting standard today, but it heavily shaped modern sustainability and ESG reporting.

Companies known for using or referencing TBL principles (They may not use the term explicitly today but apply the People‑Planet‑Profit model.)

Patagonia – integrates environmental and social impact into core business operations; often cited as a leading TBL example.
Unilever – its Sustainable Living Plan was built around social, environmental, and economic pillars aligned with TBL.
Interface (carpet manufacturer) – sustainability strategy (“Climate Take Back”) explicitly uses TBL thinking.
Starbucks – early CSR reports were structured around community, environment, and economic impact.
The Body Shop – long used People–Planet–Profit framing in its mission and reporting.

Disclosure/reporting frameworks influenced by TBL These frameworks do not use the term “triple bottom line” but are fundamentally built on the same idea:

GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) – the most TBL‑aligned; encourages reporting under economic, environmental, and social categories. (look at all the GRI standards...)
UN Global Compact – sustainability pillars map to people, planet, prosperity (profit).
Corporate Sustainability Reports (CSR) – many early CSR reports used explicit TBL structure.
B Corp Certification – assesses social and environmental impact along with governance; strongly rooted in TBL thinking.

Modern practice Today, companies usually use ESG, sustainability, or impact reporting rather than the TBL label.

But the architecture of nearly all sustainability disclosures (environmental + social + economic/governance) is derived from the original TBL model.

References & Additional Readings