Planning: ISA and TBL Back

The ISA methodology ensures that what you report on is the true bottom line and not a selected cut-off point that could be different in different organisations. Only reporting on the true bottom line can deliver the full benefits of TBL reporting including: benchmarking; ability to make comparisons within and between organisations; detailed information across the whole supply chain as a basis for strategic decision making (e.g. waste reduction, operating costs, ethical/green purchasing policies ); and completely transparent communication of the council’s non-financial dealings to all stakeholders.

ISA provides comparability that enhances and complements other approaches to TBL reporting (such as the Global Reporting Initiative) that report on the impacts within a specified boundary.

The level of detail provided by ISA methodology can reveal valuable information along the supply chain that would normally remain hidden. Such detail can become crucial, for example in the making of buying policy decisions. Reporting transparently and openly on environmental, social and economic factors through the full supply change indicates an acceptance of responsibility for the local and global environmental, social and economic impact of local government.

ISA methodology encapsulates the integrated nature of the TBL by treating all indicators in the same framework that covers the full economic, social and environmental footprint. ISA reports can distil the complexities of the full supply chain into results that communicate trade-offs and opportunities for action. Without such detailed information opportunities for improvement, as well as occasions to recognise and laud good practice, can be missed.

ISA methodology

• was developed by the School of Physics, University of Sydney; it is science-based and rigorously monitored; it uses regularly published, publicly available National Accounts data;
• provides an integrated reporting framework (it allows for social, economic and ecological trade-offs in performance to be considered);
• gives you the true bottom line (it solves the boundary problem) enabling benchmarking, and comparisons over time within and between organisations;
• provides the detail necessary for strategic decision making (it shows TBL impacts of all your inputs);
• enables you to make green purchasing policy decisions with full knowledge of their impact (it provides all upstream details of resource use);
• provides a level of detail necessary for sound reporting; and
  enhances and complements other approaches such as the Global Reporting Initiative.
  

".by monitoring and reporting social, economic, and environmental performance, organisations can better prepare for future challenges and opportunities, including those traditionally considered intangible, such as reputation."
Triple Bottom Line Reporting in Australia: A guide to reporting against environmental indicators. Dept of Environment and Heritage, 2003

“Central to our business, as our Charter states, is our ‘overriding commitment to health, safety, environmental responsibility and sustainable development’. Supporting this, among other things, our Health, Safety, Environment and Community Policy recognises that to be successful we need to ‘build relationships based on honesty, openness, mutual trust and involvement.’… We recognise, that sustainability reporting is an important management tool to facilitate the integration of sustainable development concepts within traditional business thinking.”
(BHP Billiton, 2004)