Triple Bottom Line Accounting (TBLA) is evolving from ‘traditional accountancy practice’ territory to being a business that embodies the change that’s inevitable if humanity is going to overcome the challenges of social and environmental injustice.
At the heart of TBLA’s work is a commitment to the three key aspects of sustainability: people, planet and prosperity.
The Professional Accounting Bodies agree:
The principles of environmental social governance (ESG) reporting, include the following elements for the organisation itself and its supply chain:
Organisations are taking an increasing interest in the positive and negative environmental and social impacts that they have on the planet and the communities. Two major reasons for this are:
Consumers and B2B customers are increasingly making purchasing decisions on the basis of environmental and social factors, so it is becoming ever more important to consider these factors in our own organisations.
Our process is broken down into bite-size chunks to fit your timescales, availability and priorities. The following is an example of how this might work for you:
If you would like to measure and improve your “triple bottom line” and / or receive help in writing your impact narrative, contact
Alasdair has had a long interest in environmental matters since studying for his degree in Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College, London during which he selected renewable energy options including wind energy to feed his early enthusiasm for the subject. Other formal qualifications include an MBA from Cranfield University and Prince II Practitioner.
His early career was spent in technical and management positions in manufacturing industry. This was followed by 14 years in electricity distribution during which time he led a substantial division of the business. A part of this was the application and measurement of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) metrics over several years in order to positively impact the non-financial outcomes of the organisation’s operations.
At the start of 2016, Alasdair set up his own consultancy, Maple Cone Ltd., that works with organisations to develop renewable energy, deliver energy efficiency, formulate decarbonisation trajectories and other projects. These usually have a positive social impact such as fuel poverty reduction, improving comfort, air quality improvement etc.
He has worked with the Energy Systems Catapult on projects concerning the architecture of the energy system and the reduction of carbon emissions on the government estate, with a council developing a district heating scheme, and with other organisations looking to reduce the environmental impact of their operations.
An expert facilitator, he helps groups and organisations to be clear about the problem that they are tackling and to think widely about possible solutions and then to take active steps to deliver the desired outcomes.
Alasdair combines these business focuses with an enduring interest in the countryside, wildlife conservation, the environment and organic gardening.
With an HND in Hotel and Catering Management Fran enjoyed a brief career in this field in the 1980s. She later graduated with a First-Class Honours History degree under the Open University while bringing up her two children in Norwich. For the next 25 years, she enjoyed a fulfilling career teaching History in Norfolk secondary schools. Fran has always been a bit of an eco-warrior: cycling to work and encouraging her students to think about issues surrounding the environment, the concept of peak oil, finite resources and the need to “reduce, repurpose and recycle”. In 2010 she founded the Grapes Hill Community Garden in Norwich for which she remains an active trustee. The mission of this registered charity is to improve social inclusion and personal wellbeing through opportunities to take part in community events and gardening related activities and workshops.
Fran joined TBLA in 2019 to work alongside her husband Peter, keen to put the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ ethos into action by firstly documenting and improving the company CSR profile. She has since taken part in several workshops and courses regarding genuine impact measurement, including studying with the Economy for the Common Good.
Triple Bottom Line Accounting Ltd was founded with some core ethical and environmental principles but in the early days had little time to work out a method of recording or measuring this. Since joining TBLA, Fran has succeeded in making the company a founding member of the Climate Perks Scheme, an accredited real Living Wage Employer and installed a zero-waste bin in The Enterprise Centre, Norwich, where the company is located. She set up a regular donation to a local charity feeding the homeless matching the company budget for refreshments at work. Fran has been piloting Octopus Energy Hatchery’s Carbon Labs app for small businesses, which takes into account Scope 3 emissions (detailed at www.ghgprotocol.org). She then paid into a Gold Standard project to offset the TBLA 2020 emissions, and is working towards PAS 2060 carbon neutral status for the business.
In her free time Fran is developing her no-dig organic vegetable and physic garden on the North Norfolk Coast, loves a long walk, rarely leaving home without a spare bag for foraged ingredients to use in home herbal remedies and skincare products.
Fran loves a good story and is looking forward to helping like-minded clients write their impact narrative.
Everyday ethical and sustainable practices have always been important to Charlie. He opts to cycle or walk to work and has recently pledged to eat vegan for one day a week, every week.
While completing an undergraduate degree in Business Management, Charlie took a particular interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Armed with the most up-to-date knowledge and theories, he is now eager to share his insights and help like-minded individuals and businesses operate more ethically. With a particular focus on CSR, he is keen to help businesses gauge their intentional and unwitting impact on employees and the wider community. When combining his focus on social responsibility with a love of storytelling, Charlie’s contributions to this new service will be invaluable.
Charlie brings a fresh and youthful perspective to this service and lateral thinking ability leading to some creative and novel solutions.
In 2013 our firm got a new name: Triple Bottom Line Accounting, or TBLA. We progressed from ‘traditional accountancy practice’ territory to being a business that embodies the change that’s inevitable if humanity is going to overcome the challenges of social and environmental injustice. We chose to put caring and respect at the centre of…