The triple bottom line, does it all add up? : assessing the sustainability of business and CSR

The concept of the 'triple bottom line' (TBL) - the idea that business activity can simultaneously deliver financial, social and environmental benefits - was introduced in the early 1990s. A decade on, The Triple Bottom Line: Does it All Add Up? brings together the world's leading experts on corporate responsibility to assess the implications, benefits and limitations of the TBL. This collection provides a review of what has already been achieved in stimulating change in corporate culture and bringing businesses to an appreciation of the importance and benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and good environmental performance. It further explores the conceptual and practical limits of the metaphor of the TBL and sets out what can be achieved through regulation and legislation, presenting detailed professional procedures for environmental accounting and management and social auditing. The contributors' wealth of experience and insight provides a vivid picture of how much attention is now being focused by businesses on delivering more than just financial targets, and they clearly outline the necessary steps for successfully continuing along this trajectory.

The concept of the 'triple bottom line' (TBL) - the idea that business activity can simultaneously deliver financial, social and environmental benefits - was introduced in the early 1990s. A decade on, The Triple Bottom Line: Does it All Add Up? brings together the world's leading experts on corporate responsibility to assess the implications, benefits and limitations of the TBL. This collection provides a review of what has already been achieved in stimulating change in corporate culture and bringing businesses to an appreciation of the importance and benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and good environmental performance. It further explores the conceptual and practical limits of the metaphor of the TBL and sets out what can be achieved through regulation and legislation, presenting detailed professional procedures for environmental accounting and management and social auditing. The contributors' wealth of experience and insight provides a vivid picture of how much attention is now being focused by businesses on delivering more than just financial targets, and they clearly outline the necessary steps for successfully continuing along this trajectory.

In this text leading experts examine the implications of the idea of the "triple bottom line"--The business strategy that delivers simultaneous financial, social and environmental benefits - showing what it has already achieved by stimulating change and bringing business to appreciate the importance and benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and good environmental performance. They then go beyond this to explore the limits of the metaphor and what remains to be done through regulation and legislation and with detailed professional procedures in environmental accounting and management and social auditing. They show how much more attention is now being focused by business on delivering more than just financial targets, and make clear where the next steps must be taken in continuing along this trajectory "The Triple Bottom Line"--Which delivers simultaneous social, financial and environmental benefits - is a rallying cry for business sustainability. This text examines the implications of the idea, showing what has already been achieved