A systems view of sustainability: The triple value model

Abstract

Environmental challenges are mounting, as the rapid pace of economic development threatens the availability of ecosystem services. Achieving sustainability in our highly-connected global economy will necessitate systems thinking to fully understand the implications of new policies and practices and to avoid unintended consequences. The Triple Value Model, first developed for OECD, is a framework for systems thinking that explicitly defines the linkages and flows of value among three major categories of systems—industrial, societal, and environmental systems. Moreover, using this framework it is possible to construct dynamic models that enable integrated assessment of the costs and benefits of proposed interventions. In the area of sustainable materials management, for example, systems thinking suggests a strategy of “dematerialization” that can be pursued using a variety of regulatory and voluntary approaches. Caterpillar is one company that has successfully used this strategy as a basis for its worldwide remanufacturing business.