Multicriteria Decision Analysis: The Hierarchy of Criteria in the Triple Bottom Line Framework

Businesses are increasingly required to transition from the evaluation and benchmarking of their environmental impact to the establishment of priorities for impact reduction alternatives as the significance of environmental sustainability in the corporate sector continues to increase. Most business decisions are influenced by financial metrics. However, with sustainability advancements becoming a business objective, it is also crucial to evaluate metrics from the environmental and social sectors. Nevertheless, conducting such an assessment in a practical and systematic manner is difficult. The current chapter presents the process of decision analysis while indicating the main challenges that can be caused by multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). Finally, the classification of the criteria in the hierarchy, like social, environmental, and economic, is presented as well.