It seems that lots of acronyms exist in this sphere and they all mean something slightly different, apparently.

Well it isn’t as complicated as it sounds let’s break it down to its simplest form. We want to make sure the work we do is in line with the Planet, the People, the species on it, and that the work is worthwhile. So how can we fit that into all these “initiatives”?

Start with the letters. SDG – Sustainable Development Goals, there are 17 of these and they have been developed by the United Nations. here is a link https://sdgs.un.org/goals

ESG – Environmental, Social Governance – big in business this is an evolution of CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility which itself was a development of the TBL – Triple bottom line. It all seems very clever to some, confusing to most. Yet fear not.

If you dig into all these ‘disiplines’ you get to either the 3P’s or the 5P’s – the three being a subset of the 5 like this:

(People, Planet, Profit),Peace, Partnership. – Now that’s a bit easier isn’t it. so that’s the model to go with right? Well for sure if you adopt either the 3P’s or the 5P’s you’re not going to go wrong. However we modify this by just one more step we change Profit for Prosperity.

Why change Profit for Prosperity? well we see profit as limited to a smaller group, shareholders maybe, even as far as employees. Either way it isn’t in our mind as broad or as inclusive as prosperity which implies wealth for all. It even encompasses non-financial measures. Now making a profit is good in our view, it allows the right systems to keep on operating, and crucially developing. Using profit to support wider wealth generation and benefit for a broader group, so that all become prosperous – well that is the ultimate goal, Sustainable circular economy that benefits all people whilst respecting and protecting the planet. What better ambition than that.