Designing sustainability’s first product recall

“As noted in the HBR article announcing the recall, the TBL’s goal from the outset was system change. It was never supposed to be just an accounting framework. So, yes, it is great news is that thousands of companies, thanks to outfits such as the Global Reporting Initiative, now apply TBL principles in their reporting and disclosure. And that thousands more, notably through the 2,500-strong B Corp movement, are beginning to incorporate them into their corporate charters.

“But how many of these organizations really use the TBL to drive decision-making? How many evaluate every action through an increasingly integrated financial, environmental and social lens — and show the same unwillingness to compromise on the latter two as on the former? How many are explicitly trying to drive system change? . . .

“Now, as part of the fact-finding phase of our TBL recall, we will be putting a number of leading companies under the microscope. Our aim: to uncover what has worked, what hasn’t and, crucially, how the next generation of TBL-minded business leaders can ensure that social, environmental and economic value evolve into a triple helix of transformative change, the genetic code for tomorrow’s capitalism.”

FULL STORY published September 5, 2018 via GreenBiz