Number 4 in our TBL-CBA traps series.

 4.      Letting the Loudest Voice Win

While the TBL-CBA analysis often points out trade-offs between people, planet and profits and highlights distributional effects across affected stakeholder groups, don’t fall into the trap of implicitly weighting one group or sector more than another.  Cost-benefit analysis does the weighting for you. For example, a quantity of water used or saved, when multiplied by the social cost of water (which accounts for regional scarcity) will show up as more material if there is a lot of water used. Likewise, if a project uses minimal energy, even when multiplied by the social cost of carbon emissions, energy likely won’t be a material factor.

One of the most compelling attributes of TBL-CBA is its objectivity.

Click here if you would like an infographic of the Top Ten TBL-CBA Traps.

Recaps:

Trap #1 – Re-inventing the wheel

Trap #2 – Forgetting Certain Stakeholders

Trap #3 – Double Counting