Guidance Available On The Triple Bottom Line

MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday, 15 July 2003
Guidance Available for Business Interested in the Triple Bottom Line.

Getting to grips with your Triple Bottom Line has just got easier with the release of the Sustainable Business Network’s Triple Bottom Line Guide “Enterprise3: Your business and the Triple Bottom Line – Economic, environmental and social performance”.

Businesses traditionally judge their own performance against one bottom line - the financial one. However, increasingly they are being asked to consider how they impact on the environment and on their communities. The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach enables companies to assess their performance against three bottom lines: environmental, social and economic.

TBL reporting involves thinking more broadly about what constitutes "performance" and "success" for business. While most businesses are familiar with the traditional "bottom line”, businesses must also now consider their social and environmental performance, in the same way they consider financial performance.

Robb Donzé from Interface Agencies said of his TBL Reporting experience: "The benefits are many. We have already started to use the information we have gathered to help us run our business in better ways. We have identified risks to our business and are assessing ways to transport our products more efficiently. We are cutting waste and are simply becoming better at what we do."

The TBL approach is being adopted by more and more companies. Those companies have identified the following benefits:
- Identifying potential risks to the company
- Providing structure and measurement for existing social or environmental initiatives
- Identifying areas where improvements are necessary
- Improving suppliers’ social and environmental performance
- Increasing staff morale and enthusiasm
- Contributing to better social and environmental outcomes
- And creating loyal, supportive customers.

The new guide is filled with practical tips, quotes and experiences from New Zealand companies including Hubbards, Urgent Couriers, Phoenix Organics, the Eco Store, Datamail, Formway,Tall Poppies and more. The Guide, which was published with support from the Ministry for the Environment, is being launched in conjunction with a series of practical workshops held in Wellington and Auckland later this month.

The Sustainable Business Network is running a series of practical Triple Bottom Line workshops at the end of July in Wellington & Auckland.
Auckland: 24th July 2003 - To register contact Christine Takiwa office@sustainable.org.nz or call 09 920 2400.
Wellington: 28th July 2003 - To register contact Maria Roddick maria@sustainable.org.nz or call 04 232 2480.
For more information see www.sustainable.org.nz

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