Addressing the triple bottom line

Rising CO₂ emissions have encouraged the construction industry to make environmental changes to their operations management practices in order to reduce emissions impacts (Ahi and Searcy, 2015). Responsible for approximately half of global greenhouse gas emissions, the industry has made steps towards implementing CO₂ measurement systems. These systems however are not perceived to be capable of addressing the triple bottom line (TBL) in construction (Kucukvar and Tatari, 2013; Asif et al., 2007). Emphasis on mathematical solutions to the emissions problem has encouraged a disregard of the social and economic implications of environmental sustainability. The aim of this chapter is to understand how a movement away from technological solutions to environmental problems, towards an integrated supply chain approach could provide insight into how TBL can be applied to construction; the product of which could provide environmental, social and economic benefits for the industry.