Sustainability glossary
Sustainability: The practice of meeting our current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It encompasses environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
Carbon Footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product, typically measured in units of carbon dioxide equivalents.
Renewable Energy: Energy from sources that are not depleted when used, such as wind, solar power, and hydropower. These sources are considered more sustainable than fossil fuels.
Circular Economy: An economic system aimed at minimizing waste and making the most of resources. This model involves reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products.
Climate Change: Long-term alterations in temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and other elements of the Earth's climate system, largely driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning.
Ecosystem Services: The benefits provided by ecosystems to humans, which include food, water, disease management, climate regulation, spiritual fulfillment, and aesthetic enjoyment.
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs): Gases in the Earth's atmosphere that trap heat. They include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and fluorinated gases.
Biodiversity: The variety of plant and animal life in a particular habitat (or in the world as a whole), a high level of which is usually considered important and desirable.
Sustainable Development: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, involving a balance between economic growth, environmental care, and social well-being.
Carbon Neutral: Achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by balancing emissions with carbon removal (often through carbon offsetting) or simply eliminating emissions altogether.
Greenwashing: The practice of making misleading or unsubstantiated claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology, or company practices.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): A technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life, from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair, maintenance, and disposal or recycling.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. By practicing CSR, companies can be conscious of the kind of impact they are having on all aspects of society, including economic, social, and environmental.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): Criteria used to evaluate a company's operation practices and their collective conscientiousness for social and environmental factors.
Net Zero Emissions: The balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. Net zero is reached when the amount we add is no more than the amount taken away.
Sustainable Agriculture: Farming in sustainable ways based on an understanding of ecosystem services, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. It has an emphasis on long-term viability and incorporates principles of conservation.
Green Economy: An economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment.
Energy Efficiency: Using less energy to perform the same task – that is, eliminating energy waste. Energy efficiency brings a variety of benefits: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing demand for energy imports, and lowering our costs on a household and economy-wide level.
Fair Trade: A social movement whose stated goal is to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions and to promote sustainable farming.
Ecological Footprint: The impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.
Zero Waste: A philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused, with no trash sent to landfills and incinerators.
Organic Farming: A farming method that involves growing and nurturing crops without the use of synthetic-based fertilizers and pesticides. Also, livestock raised without the regular use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones.
LEED Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design): A popular green building certification program used worldwide to evaluate the environmental performance of a building and encourage market transformation towards sustainable design.
Sustainable Urban Development: A process for achieving sustainability in urban areas, focusing on social, economic, and environmental sustainability in urban planning and development.
Biodegradable: Refers to a substance or object that can be decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms, thereby avoiding pollution.
Corporate Governance: The system of rules, practices, and processes by which a firm is directed and controlled. Sustainable corporate governance integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations into this framework.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): A procedure used to evaluate the environmental impact of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural, and human-health impacts.
Social Sustainability: A process for creating sustainable successful places that promote well-being, by understanding what people need from the places they live and work.
Carbon Offsetting: A method for individuals and companies to compensate for their carbon emissions by financing a reduction in emissions elsewhere, often through renewable energy, energy efficiency, or reforestation projects.
Sustainable Consumption: The use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials, and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations.
Natural Capital: The world's stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water, and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible.
Green Infrastructure: A network providing the “ingredients” for solving urban and climatic challenges by building with nature. The main components are stormwater management, climate adaptation, less heat stress, more biodiversity, food production, better air quality, sustainable energy production, clean water, and healthy soils.
Sustainable Finance: A form of financial services integrating ESG criteria into business or investment decisions for the lasting benefit of both clients and society at large.
Ethical Investing: An investment discipline that considers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to generate long-term competitive financial returns and positive societal impact.
Green Bonds: Bonds specifically earmarked to be used for climate and environmental projects. These bonds are typically asset-linked and backed by the issuer's balance sheet, and are also referred to as climate bonds.
Resource Efficiency: The sustainable use of resources to maximize their utility while minimizing their impact on the environment. This includes efficient use of water, energy, and materials.
Cradle to Cradle: A sustainable business strategy that models human industry on nature's processes viewing materials as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms. It is a holistic economic, industrial, and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not only efficient but also essentially waste-free.
Sustainable Tourism: Tourism that respects both local people and the traveler, cultural heritage and the environment. It seeks to provide people with an exciting and educational holiday that is also of benefit to the people of the host country.
Environmental Stewardship: The responsible use and protection of the natural environment through conservation and sustainable practices. Stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources.
Social Enterprise: An organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being, rather than maximizing profits for external shareholders.
Sustainable Supply Chain: A supply chain management philosophy that incorporates the integrated logistics and distribution of goods with a sustainable approach, taking into account environmental, social, and economic factors.
Impact Investing: Investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.
Corporate Citizenship: The extent to which businesses are socially responsible for meeting legal, ethical, and economic responsibilities placed on them by shareholders. The aim is for a positive impact on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders, and all other members of the public sphere.
Environmental Justice: The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
Green Technology: Technology whose use is intended to mitigate or reverse the effects of human activity on the environment.
Sustainable Materials Management (SMM): The use and reuse of materials in the most productive and sustainable way across their entire life cycle.
Responsible Consumption and Production: Practices that entail reducing resource use, degradation, and pollution while increasing quality of life. It involves different stakeholders, including business, consumers, policymakers, researchers, scientists, retailers, media, and development cooperation agencies.
Urban Resilience: The ability of an urban system to withstand and recover quickly from any plausible hazards. It reflects the degree to which a city actively manages its risks posed by the effects of climate change.
Clean Technology: A range of products, services, and processes that use energy, water, and raw materials more efficiently and effectively, create less waste and pollution, and contribute to environmental sustainability.
Global Warming: An increase in Earth's average surface temperature due to rising levels of greenhouse gases. Global warming is a type of climate change