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Face-to-Face
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JOHN
ELKINGTON
John Elkington, Founder and Chief Pollinator at Volans is one of the founders of the global
sustainability movement, an experienced advisor to business, and a regarded keynote speaker
and contributor. He tackles some of the world’s most challenging problems, helping key actors
move from the responsibility agenda through resilience to regeneration. He has inspired a
number of Volans’ inquiries including Project Breakthrough, Tomorrow’s Capitalism Inquiry,
and the Green Swans Observatory. In 2021, he won the World Sustainability
IN THIS CONVERSATION WITH GRIHA COUNCIL, JOHN
ELKINGTON DISCUSSES THE CONCEPT OF THE TRIPLE
BOTTOM LINE, THE NEED TO EXAMINE CLIMATE-
DESTABILIZING COMPANIES AND CORPORATE
SUSTAINABILITY, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF
RESILIENCE IN BUSINESSES AMONG OTHER
GRIHA: Your book Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of
21st Century Business was released in 1997, yet it still holds relevance.
Can you tell us about the book’s message?
John Elkington (JE): Well, that seems like a lifetime
ago. It was my 13th book—and I have written another
seven since then. But it certainly had an impact on the
corporate responsibility agenda. The concept of the
triple bottom line, which I developed in the book, went
viral, as we would now say. It inspired and informed the
evolution of organizations like the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI), the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices
(DJSI), and the B Corporation movement.