Glossary of Terms and Definitions
CSR / Sustainability
AA1000 (Accountability 1000)
Standard that provides a systematic, inclusive and credible approach to improving social and ethical accountability as well as overall organisational performance.
Accountability
This is the responsibility of an organization for its decisions and activities. It also refers to its legal and statutory obligations towards governing bodies, regulators and, more broadly, other stakeholders.
Adaptation: Action that helps cope with the effects of climate change - for example construction of barriers to protect against rising sea levels, or conversion to crops capable of surviving high temperatures and drought.
BSCI: Business Social Compliance Initiative
The Business Social Compliance Initiative is the broadest business-driven platform for the improvement of social compliance in the global supply chain.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
The collection and transport of concentrated carbon dioxide gas from large emission sources, such as power plants. The gases are then injected into deep underground reservoirs. Carbon capture is sometimes referred to as geological sequestration.
Carbon footprint
The amount of carbon emitted by an individual or organisation in a given period of time, or the amount of carbon emitted during the manufacture of a product.
Carbon offsetting
A way of compensating for emissions of CO2 by participating in, or funding, efforts to take CO2 out of the atmosphere. Offsetting often involves paying another party, somewhere else, to save emissions equivalent to those produced by your activity.
Change Management
Change Management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organisations from a current state to a desired future state.
Climate change
Climate change is related to changes in the concentration of the greenhouse gases, which trap infrared radiation from the Earth's surface and thus cause the greenhouse effect. This effect is a natural phenomenon, which helps maintain a stable temperature and climate on Earth.
Human activities, such as fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, and some industrial processes have led to an increase in greenhouse gases concentration. Consequently, more infrared radiation has been captured in the atmosphere, which causes changes in the air temperature, precipitation patterns, sea-level rise, and melting of glaciers.
Core Business
Core business is the central, and usually the original, focus of an organization's activities that differentiates it from others and makes a vital contribution to its success
Diversity
Diversity Management is the active and conscious development of a future oriented, value driven, strategic, communicative and managerial process of accepting and using certain differences and similarities as a potential in an organisation, a process that creates added value to the company
Ecological footprint
This has emerged as one of the world’s premier measure of humanity’s demand on nature. It measures how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resource it consumes and to absorb its wastes, using prevailing technology.
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)
EMAS is a management tool for companies and other organisations to evaluate, report and improve their environmental performance. The scheme has been available for participation by companies since 1995 and was originally restricted to companies in industrial sectors. Since 2001 EMAS has been open to all economic sectors including public and private services.
Emission Trading Scheme (ETS)
A scheme set up to allow the trading of emissions permits between business and/or countries as part of a cap and trade approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The best-developed example is the EU's trading scheme, launched in 2005. See Cap and trade.
Environment, Social, Governance (ESG)
This term is used to describe environmental, social and governance issues that investors are considering in the context of corporate behaviour.
Environmental labelling
This is a voluntary program that provides consumers with environmental information.
An eco-label is a label which identifies overall environmental preference of a product or service within a specific product/service category based on life cycle considerations. Labelling and certification programs help environmentally conscious consumers to choose between similar products.
In contrast to "green" symbols or claim statements developed by manufacturers and service providers, an eco-label is awarded by an impartial third-party in relation to certain products or services that are independently determined to meet environmental leadership criteria.
Environmental Management System (EMS)
EMS is a set of processes and practices that enable an organization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency. An EMS is a continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the processes and actions that an organisation undertakes to meet its business and environmental goals.
Equal opportunities
Principle of non-discrimination which emphasizes that opportunities in education, employment, advancement, benefits and resource distribution, and other areas should be freely available to all citizens irrespective of their age, race, sex, religion, political association, ethnic origin, or any other individual or group characteristic unrelated to ability, performance, and qualification.
Extra financial factors
These are the issues which are expected to have at minimum a long-term effect on business and its asset performance but that typically lie outside the standard realm of variables that are integrated into investment and/or financial decisions. These factors are usually medium to long term in nature but can also impact or act over the short term.
Fairtrade label
This is run by an independent body that helps to support better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.
By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives.
Gender Equality
An activity should be classified as gender equality focused if it is intended to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment or reduce discrimination and inequalities based on sex.
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
A multi-stakeholder process facilitated by an independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
GRI is a network-based organization that has pioneered the development of the worlds most widely used sustainability reporting framework and is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide.
In order to ensure the highest degree of technical quality, credibility, and relevance, the reporting framework is developed through a consensus-seeking process with participants drawn globally from business, civil society, labour, and professional institutions.
Global warming
The steady rise in global average temperature in recent decades, which experts believe is largely caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The long-term trend continues upwards, they suggest, even though the warmest year on record, according to the UK's Met Office, is 1998.
Greenhouse gases (GHGs)
Natural and industrial gases that trap heat from the Earth and warm the surface. The Kyoto Protocol restricts emissions of six greenhouse gases: natural (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) and industrial (perfluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, and sulphur hexafluoride).
Iceberg Model
A theoretical modelwhich uses the analogy of an iceberg to represent diversity. This model identifies different types of diversity, both hidden and visible i.e. Visible (e.g. age, race, gender, disability) Invisible (e.g. background, religion, sexual orientation, work experience.
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)
IISD champions sustainable development around the world through innovation, partnerships, research and communications.
International Labour Organization (ILO)
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the tripartite UN agency that brings together governments, employers and workers of its member states in common action to promote decent work throughout the world.
International Organization for Standardisation (ISO)
ISO is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 163countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system.
Investor relations
Integrates finance, communication, marketing and law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community, and other stakeholders.
IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific body established by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical, and socio-economic work relevant to climate change, but does not carry out its own research. The IPCC was honoured with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
ISO 14001
ISO 14001 is a standard for environmental management systems that is applicable to any business, regardless of size, location or income.
ISO26000
An international guideline (draft) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) developed by the International Organisation of Standardisation.
Life-cycle assessment (LCA)
LCA is the investigation and evaluation of the environmental impacts of a given product, process or service caused by its existence. The evaluations include the course of the complete path life of the product, process or service.
Market value
It is considered to be the true underlying value of an asset. Although it is not an exact science it is used as a business tool.
Mitigation: Action that will reduce man-made climate change. This includes action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or absorb greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
NGO Non-governmental organization
Non financial measures
Measures that are not directly linked to financial performance but still impact a company or organisation’s overall performance – and in many cases even the financial performance.
On site identification of environmental problems
This is a creative mapping tool that helps small companies to implement environmental management systems e.g. ISO 14001 and EMAS.
Product certification or product qualification
The process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance and quality assurance tests or qualification requirements stipulated in regulations such as a building code and nationally accredited test standards, or that it complies with a set of regulations governing quality and minimum performance requirements.
SGE 21 Ethical and CSR Management System
This is a set of norms and guidelines that allow evaluation and verification of the commitments acquired by senior management of a company with regards to social responsibility.
Stakeholders
An organisation’s stakeholders are those groups who affect and/or are affected by the organisation and its activities. These may include, but are not limited to: owners, trustees, employees and trade unions, customers, members, business partners, suppliers, competitors, government and regulators, the electorate, non-governmental-organisations (NGOs) / non-profit organisations, pressure groups and lobbies, and local and international communities.
Supplier
An organisationwhose business is to supply a particular service or commodity to another.
Supply chain
The network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storagefacilities and suppliers that participate in the sale, delivery and production of a particular product.
Transparency
Openness about decisions and activities that affect society, the economy and the environment, and willingness to communicate these in a clear, accurate, timely, honest and complete manner
Triple Bottom Line (TBL)
The triple bottom line captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational (and societal) success: economic, environmental and social. Also sometimes referred to as `People’, `Planet’ and `Profit’.
UNFCCC
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is one of a series of international agreements on global environmental issues adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The UNFCCC aims to prevent "dangerous" human interference with the climate system. It entered into force on 21 March 1994 and has been ratified by 192 countries.
UNGC
The United Nations Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
Valuation models
Models used to estimate the potential financial value of an asset or liability.
Weather
The state of the atmosphere with regard to temperature, cloudiness, rainfall, wind and other meteorological conditions. It is not the same as climate which is the average weather over a much longer period.
SOURCES
International Society for Diversity Management
