Triple Bottom Line: (TBL) is an approach that tries to weigh economic, social and environmental performance. The 3P's - People, Planet, Profit are often used when referring to TBL. The concept of TBL demands that a company's responsibility be to 'stakeholders' rather than shareholders. In this case, 'stakeholders' refers to anyone who is influenced, either directly or indirectly, by the actions of the company.  In practical terms, triple bottom line accounting means expanding the traditional reporting framework to take into account environmental and social performance in addition to financial performance. 

The phrase was coined by John Elkington in 1994 and later expanded and articulated in his 1998 book Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business.  The Triple Bottom Line framework is employed by the Dockside Green which is committed to obtaining LEED platinum certification for its mixed use community development in Victoria, BC.

"People, Planet and Profit" are used to succinctly describe the triple bottom lines and the goal of sustainability.

"People" (Human Capital) pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labor and the community and region in which a corporation conducts its business. A TBL company conceives a reciprocal social structure in which the well being of corporate, labor and other stakeholder interests are interdependent. A triple bottom line enterprise seeks to benefit many constituencies, not exploit or endanger any group of them.

"Planet" (Natural Capital) refers to sustainable environmental practices. A TBL company endeavors to benefit the natural order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and curtail environmental impact. A TBL endeavor reduces its ecological footprint by, among other things, carefully managing its consumption of energy and non-renewables and reducing manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste less toxic before disposing of it in a safe and legal manner. "Cradle to grave" is uppermost in the thoughts of TBL manufacturing businesses which typically conduct a life cycle assessment of products to determine what the true environmental cost is from the growth and harvesting of raw materials to manufacture to distribution to eventual disposal by the end user.

"Profit" is the bottom line shared by all commerce, conscientious or not. In the original concept, within a sustainability framework, the "profit" aspect needs to be seen as the economic benefit enjoyed by the host society. It is the lasting economic impact the organization has on its economic environment. This is often confused to be limited to the internal profit made by a company or organization. Therefore, a TBL approach cannot be interpreted as traditional corporate accounting plus social and environmental impact.

Although broad agreement has yet to be reached on methods of valuing and auditing human capital (human rights, labour practices, product responsibility, society) and natural capital (air, water, soil, for example), Triple Bottom Line is catching on, although it is often used in tandem with, rather than instead of, other valuation methods.  The Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI"), a non-profit foundation, developed what is by all accounts the most widely used sustainability reporting framework.  The GRI's G3 Guidelines,and overall framework, set out the principles and indicators that organizations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance.  The GRI's guidelines are available on their website at www.globalreporting.org.