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John Elkington
Born
John Brett Elkington

(1949-06-23) 23 June 1949 (age 74)
Padworth, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
CitizenshipBritish
Alma materUniversity College London
Known forTriple Bottom Line
Awards2011 Spencer Hutchens, Jr. Medal by the American Society for Quality (ASQ)
Scientific career
FieldsSustainability
Innovation
Social entrepreneurship
Environmentalism
Ecology
InstitutionsVolans

John Elkington CF (born 23 June 1949) is an author, advisor and serial entrepreneur. He is an authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.[1][2] He has written and co-authored 20 books, including the Green Consumer Guide, Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business, The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World, and The Breakthrough Challenge: 10 Ways to Connect Tomorrow's Profits with Tomorrow's Bottom Line.

He is a founding partner and chairman & chief pollinator at Volans;[3] co-founder and honorary chairman of SustainAbility;[4] honorary chairman of Environmental Data Services (ENDS, 1978); senior advisor to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre;[5] member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Council of Ambassadors;[6] visiting professor at Cranfield University School of Management, Imperial College and University College London (UCL). He is a member of over 20 boards and advisory boards.[7][8]

He coined the terms environmental excellence,[9][10] green growth,[11][12] green consumer, the triple bottom line[13][14] and People, Planet & Profit.[15]

Biography

At the age of 28, Elkington co-founded Environmental Data Services (ENDS) with David Layton and Max Nicholson. In 1983, SustainAbility, a think tank consultancy that works with businesses through markets in the pursuit of economic, social and environmental sustainability. (launched as John Elkington Associates, and renamed SustainAbility in 1987). In 2008, he co-founded Volans Ventures with Pamela Hartigan, Sam Lakha, Geoff Lye and Kevin Teo.[16] He wrote his first book with Julia Hailes, the Green Consumer Guide, in 1980, at the age of 31.[17]

Elkington was described by Business Week in 2004 as "a dean of the corporate responsibility movement for three decades."[18] In 2008, the Evening Standard had named him among the '1000 Most Influential People' in London, describing him as "a true green business guru", and as "an evangelist for corporate social and environmental responsibility long before it was fashionable".[19][20]

Awards

He has received awards from the United Nations, Fast Company, the American Society for Quality, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Skoll Foundation. In 1981, he was awarded the Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship, UK.[21] In 2009, a CSR International survey of the Top 100 CSR leaders placed Elkington fourth after Al Gore, Barack Obama and the late Anita Roddick of the Body Shop, and alongside Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Essex.[22]

Selected publications

Selected forewords (around 20 done to date):

Selected chapters/essays in other books:

Selected reports - over 50 authored or co-authored reports published to date, including:

References

  1. ^ Elkington, John (10 March 2016). "Interview with John Elkington, Founder of SustainAbility and Volans". Sustainability Leaders Project.
  2. ^ Hermes, Jennifer (10 July 2018). "When a Sustainability 'Concept' Proves Its Point, Do We Still Need It?". Environmental Leader.
  3. ^ "Volans". Volans. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Independent think tank and strategy consultancy". SustainAbility. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Bios of board members". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.
  6. ^ "John Elkington". WWF.
  7. ^ "John Elkington". Speaker Ideas Sharing the Power of Ideas. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Personal". John Elkington.
  9. ^ Green Biz Editors (26 June 2001). "John Elkington: Ready, Willing, and Sustainable". Green Biz. ((cite web)): |last= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ "HAS THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE FAILED, MR. ELKINGTON?". Global Goals Yearbook.
  11. ^ Makower, Joel (19 May 2016). "Two Steps Forward John Elkington and the search for What's Next".
  12. ^ Elkington, John (21 June 2012). "Going Green". New York Times Opinion.
  13. ^ "Triple bottom line". The Economist. 17 November 2009.
  14. ^ Elkington, John (25 June 2018). "25 Years Ago I Coined the Phrase "Triple Bottom Line." Here's Why It's Time to Rethink It". Harvard Business Review.
  15. ^ Finfrock, Jesse (November–December 2008). "Q&A: John Elkington The social capitalist behind the phrase "triple bottom line" talks about why some greenwashing is good".
  16. ^ "Executive Profile John Elkington". Bloomburg. 30 June 2023.
  17. ^ "Books". John Elkington.
  18. ^ "John Elkington, executive chairman, Volans". The Guardian. 15 November 2011.
  19. ^ "The 1000 London's Most Influential People". Evening Standard. 2 October 2008.
  20. ^ "John Elkington". Gresham College.
  21. ^ "John Elkington 1981". Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Archived from the original on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  22. ^ "Honorary Graduates". University of Essex. 2014.

External links

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