New Sustainability Advantage: Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line

Review " Triple Pundit " June 27, 2012 by Connie Kwan
Bob Willard's 10th Anniversary book, "The New Sustainability Advantage," is an update of the old with new examples. For sustainability non-believers, his book is a great first guide. It succinctly summarizes bottom-line benefits of sustainable practices in relevant business terms. In a Forrester survey of over 2000 executives regarding top 10 business priorities in 2011, 64% of executives selected revenue and customers, 44% selected cost reduction, while only 10% selected corporate social responsibility (CSR). For CSR professionals, messaging the revenue increase and cost reduction benefits of CSR efforts continues to be key in driving CSR implementation.
Willard points out seven business case benefits of a Triple Bottom Line and provides short examples of how to implement these practices. The benefits are:
1. Increased Revenue and Market Share
2. Reduced Energy Expenses
3. Reduced Waste Expenses
4. Reduced Materials and Water Expenses
5. Increased Employee Productivity
6. Reduced Hiring and Attrition Expenses
7. Reduced Risks
For sustainability practitioners, these benefits are nothing new. For everyone else, Willard's guidebook provides a quick read to begin the CSR conversation. For every chapter, Willard first inspires the reader with examples of successes. For example, USPS reduced energy use by 29 percent from 2003 to 2010. Then, Willard provides first level information to trigger an analysis. For example, knowing that the top three energy use in commercial buildings are lighting (25 percent use), space heating (14 percent use), and space cooling (13 percent use) helps prioritize the energy reduction process. In some cases, Willard provides an illustrative financial analysis of potential savings at a small firm and at a large firm.
Since many of the seven benefits focus on energy, waste and materials, businesses with manufacturing and physical products will find