A Triple Bottom Line Planning Tool for Measuring Sustainability : A Systems Approach to Sustainability Using the Australian Dairy Industry as a Case Study

Summary Sustainability is a key driver for decisions in the management and future development of organisations and industries. However, quantifying and comparing sustainability across the triple bottom line (TBL) of economy, environment and social impact, has been problematic. There is a need for a tool which can measure the complex interactions within and between the environmental, economic and social systems which affect the sustainability of an industry in a transparent, consistent and comparable way. The authors acknowledge that there are currently numerous ways in which sustainability is measured and multiple methodologies in how these measurement tools were designed. The purpose of this book is to showcase how Bayesian network modelling can be used to identify and measure environmental, economic and social sustainability variables and to understand their impact on and interaction with each other. This book introduces the Sustainability Scorecard, and describes it through a case study on sustainability of the Australian dairy industry. This study was conducted in collaboration with the Australian dairy industry. Contents Conceptual Model Triple bottom line sub-models Economic sub-model nodes, indicators and measures Social sub-model nodes, indicators and measures Environmental sub-model nodes, indicators and measures Dairy Sustainability Scorecard Scenario Testing for the Scorecard Scenario testing of the Dairy Australia Sustainability Scorecard Dairy Australia sustainability scenarios Economic sustainability scenarios Social sustainability scenarios Environmental sustainability scenarios Strength of influence across the TBL for dairy Strength of influence in economic TBL Strength of influence in social TBL Environmental TBL A Triple Bottom Line Planning Tool for Measuring Sustainability Evidence Base Design Quantify Validate Evaluate Adapt Conclusion Measures for the Bayesian network Economic Social Environmental References