Economics and Sustainability
One key aspect of a sustainability focus is explicitly recognizing that decisions are driven by three somewhat competing objectives: Profit - People - Planet . Another way to say this is choices are determined by examining their impact on the business, society, and the natural environment. A term coined to describe this tripartite is The Triple Bottom Line . A picture of The Triple bottom Line (T-B-L) appears here. What I find critically important is in the overlap between any two and all three goals. This is interesting to me since it will be the rare circumstance when all three goals - environmental, social, and economic - sustainability can equally be met. One implication of the T-B-L is that choice is no longer driven by economics alone. The profitability of a particular decision is no longer the driving force behind the choice. In one way. this is not path breaking news to real-world decision-makers. For years now future leaders h...