How an Organization Can Become a Certified TBL Org

Qualifying for recognition as a Certified TBL Org requires that an organization implement Triple Bottom Line (TBL) performance accounting within its own operations, and that it agree to the following terms of certification:

  1. The TBL accounting system should be enterprise-wide in scope, although it may take years to fully deploy; meaningful implementation must, however, be achieved by the end of the first two years of a program, with steady progress to be made every year thereafter in order to complete the implementation and maintain certification
  2. The TBL accounting system must be context-based in keeping with the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Context Principle (i.e., that an organization’s performance must be measured and reported “in the context of the limits and demands placed on economic, environmental or social resources, at the sectoral, local, regional, or global level.”; and  must also be in accordance with leading practices for how best to do so as defined in Context-Based Sustainability
  3. The use of the open-source MultiCapital Scorecard method to comply with these requirements is preferred, but not required, although alternative methods must be approved by SustainAccounting LLC
  4. Regarding administrative requirements, Certified TBL Orgs are expected to comply with the following:
    1. Certified TBL Orgs must enter into a Certification Agreement with SustainAccounting LLC and agree to its annual fees
    2. Certified TBL Orgs must also enter into a separate agreement with the Center for Sustainable Organizations for training on Context-Based Sustainability and the MultiCapital Scorecard
    3. No later than the end of their second year in the program, and every year thereafter, Certified TBL Orgs must prepare an annual report for external publication in which it communicates its TBL performance, if only at a summary level of analysis
    4. Such annual reports may or may not be assured by a third party, although third-party assurance by qualified providers (i.e., those that have been approved by SustainAccounting LLC) is recommended in order to streamline recertification on a bi-annual basis
    5. Certified TBL Orgs must be recertified every two years in order to maintain their status in the program

More information about TBL Orgs and the Certified TBL program can be obtained by contacting its Director, Mark W. McElroy.