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Twenty years of SustainAbility have helped to shape the energy debate for society.

The original green gurus - the first to identify green consumers, John Elkington and SustainAbility invented the triple bottom line - and they continue to challenge their corporate clients.

SustainAbility made us think more holistically and understand the early views of NGOs as pace setters for mainstream. Business models today are changing radically and I see SustainAbility facilitating that change. Corporations aren’t the bad guys and actually have the power to pull off essential changes (with positive SustainAbility support).

Twenty years on, SustainAbility continues to anticipate the future and facilitate those who wish to support the vision of a more enlightened world. It's a bit like a socially responsible fortune teller - one that doesn't mind meddling now and then for the greater good.

John Elkington has been a real pioneer in helping so many people confront old problems with new eyes. He has been practical too. Unlike the vapid rhetoric about corporate social responsibility, John's triple bottom line is a tool that makes people think about balancing opposing forces in novel ways. Firms adopting these measures have changed their resource allocation decisions for the better (for all). SustainAbility has made these and other ideas accessible to a global audience - thus truly making a difference far beyond the scale of the company.

For two decades, SustainAbility has tuned its radar to pick up signals of what the future might hold, and then used this intelligence to advise mainstream corporations on how to re-tool for long-term competitive advantage – with that advantage encompassing what founder John Elkington has termed the ‘triple bottom line’ of economic, social and environmental performance. So now that John is tracking signals from social entrepreneurs and considering their relevance to corporations doing business in a globalised world, we at the Skoll Foundation take note.

John Elkington and SustainAbility succeeded in “keeping the pot boiling” during the 15 year period it has taken the Australian business community to finally grasp the urgency of our planet’s plight. SustainAbility modeled the fledgling open source approach: generously sharing their intellectual research and allowing John time to walk alongside Australian business and government leaders as they slowly and reluctantly came to terms with the ramifications of the sustainability challenge.

The last six months has seen Australian leaders pass the tipping point, and society is now more informed than ever about the consequences of inaction and the potential for positive action at a local level, thanks to the work of SustainAbilty. Without the pioneering steps of John and his team, who seeded and nurtured our critical home grown advocates and early adopters, Australia would not be in the position it finds itself today, where we have the world’s best practice practitioners demonstrating what’s possible to the lately arrived majority.

SustainAbility has impacted the business and sustainable development worlds by largely taking the initiative to explore how their agendas overlap, and by engaging with the business and sustainability communities to address these overlaps. Particular kudos relates to SustainAbility’s contribution to the debate on sustainability reporting.

Since the establishment of the Global Reporting Initiative and throughout the subsequent years of its development, SustainAbility has closely monitored the pulse of sustainability reporting. In its bi-annual Global Reporters studies, conducted in partnership with UNEP and Standard and Poors, SustainAbility provides the leading analysis of trends in sustainability reporting, while also defining the agenda for the next period - helping to keep sustainability reporting moving forward in terms of quality and value.

SustainAbility has made a major addition to the debate about the role of business in society. In particular, SustainAbility has a great and rare combination of intelligence, creativity, humour and lateral thinking and is not afraid of taking risks and opening up new areas of corporate responsibility.

If the expression “influence beyond size” ever held true, it is in the case of the 20 years work carried out by SustainAbility and John Elkington. They have delivered global and lasting influence, in crescendo and to the benefit of many. The mind boggles at the thought of another 20 years or more. Extrapolation can be a delightful thing!