Glossary

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Absenteeism

Absenteeism is a habitual pattern of absence from a duty or obligation. Traditionally, absenteeism has been viewed as an indicator of poor individual performance, as well as a breach of an implicit contract between employee and employer; it was seen as a management problem, and framed in economic or quasi-economic terms. More recent scholarship seeks to understand absenteeism as an indicator of psychological, medical, or social adjustment to work. High absenteeism in the workplace may be indicative of poor morale, but absences can also be caused by workplace hazards or sick building syndrome.

Absolute metric

An absolute metric expresses an organization’s overall operational performance for a specific factor (e.g., electricity used) during a defined period of time (e.g., one year).

Access economy

The “Access Economy”, sometimes called the “Sharing Economy” is a general catch all for economic activity generated by companies who enable the sharing of resources. AirBnb or ZipCar are classic examples.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Adaptive management

In ecology, a method for managing land flexibly based on what methods of management obtain the best results. The process of adaptive management is based on monitoring the results of management actions as part of a feedback loop to determine if management actions have been successful at achieving the desired result.

A key concept of adaptive management is that management decisions and objectives must be allowed to remain flexible to adapt to changes that may occur from unforeseen circumstances resulting from a changing and uncertain environment.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Adaptive system

The adaptive system is an informal organizational operating system. It reflects how employees get things done by building an internal network of connections and influence with others in the organization who are outside the employee’s direct report chain of command, department, or business unit.

Advocacy

Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group which aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research, conducting an exit poll, or filing an amicus brief. Lobbying (often done by lobby groups) is a form of advocacy where a direct approach is made to legislators on an issue that plays a significant role in modern politics.

Source: Wikipedia

Agricultural resources

Agricultural resources are natural resources that are cultivated for human consumption or use. They fall into several broad categories: food crops; domestic livestock, poultry, and dairy raised for consumption; crops used for biofuels; and crops used for the feeding of livestock. The production, use, and disposal of agricultural resources often cause a variety of adverse impacts, including soil degradation, soil erosion, deforestation, groundwater depletion and contamination, and air polluting emissions.

Albedo

A measure (on a scale of 0 to 1 or 0-100%) of the amount of sunlight reflected by a material, where higher numbers indicate greater reflectance.

Alloy

A metal made by combining two or more metallic elements, especially to give greater strength or resistance to corrosion.

Alternative transportation fuels

Alternative transportation fuels are bio-diesel, compressed natural gas, hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, ethanol, and methanol. Hybrid and electric vehicles are referred to as alternative fuel vehicles because they utilize electricity in place of gasoline to eliminate some or all fossil fuel impacts.

Aluminum alloy

A metal alloy that is made mostly of Aluminum (AI). Aluminum alloys are widely used in engineering structures and components where lightweight or corrosion resistance is required.

Animal materials

Animal materials are the parts of finished products derived from animals. This includes animal skin, hair, fur, and bone products, as well as meat and dairy and lesser known products, such as isinglass and rennet. Some uses of animal materials are regulated (leather processing) or prohibited (ivory).

Anthropogenic

An effect that is caused or influenced by human activity. In sustainability, this term is used in connection with environmental pollutants or pollution (i.e., climate change) caused by humans.

Anti-competitive practices

Anti-competitive practices refer to business activities that artificially restrict or eliminate competition by exploiting market position to the disadvantage of competitors, customers, and suppliers. The result is higher prices, less choice for consumers, reduced output, market inefficiencies, or misallocation of resources (or combinations of these effects). Examples of anticompetitive practices include cartels, collusion, conspiracy, mergers, predatory pricing, price discrimination, price fixing agreements, exclusive dealing, geographic market restrictions, refusal to deal/sell, resale price maintenance, and tied selling.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI)

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a theory and practice for approaching organizational change. It deliberately seeks to discover the qualities and strengths of organizations when they are most alive and most effective. Through a practice of asking questions, AI aims to strengthen an organization’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and cultivate its positive potential.

Asset

Anything owned by a business or an individual that has cash, commercial, or exchange value. It is generally understood to mean property capable of producing income. Assets can be tangible (buildings, inventory, and materials) or intangible (licenses, trademarks, patents, and other intellectual property).

Intangible assets include all value a company might provide. For example, brand and reputation may be powerful contributors to an organization’s performance (economic and otherwise) though this asset is not recognized in accounting practice since its value is indeterminate.

Though the term “assets” commonly refers to financial or physical items of value, assets can also include forms of natural and human capital. Traditionally, business and financial measures treat these forms of capital as infinite and interchangeable. However, particularly with rare resources and people with special skills and leadership traits, these assets are neither easy to find nor interchangeable.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Atmospheric aerosols

Aerosols are minute particles suspended in the atmosphere. Aerosols interact with the Earth’s radiation and energy budget and climate, both directly (they scatter sunlight directly back into space) and indirectly (they can modify the size of cloud particles, changing how the clouds reflect and absorb sunlight). Aerosols also can act as sites for chemical reactions to take place (known as heterogeneous chemistry). The most significant of these reactions are those that lead to the destruction of stratospheric ozone.

Three types of aerosols significantly affect the Earth’s climate: a volcanic aerosol layer forms in the stratosphere after major volcanic eruptions; desert dust; and human activities, including most significantly sulfate aerosols created by the burning of coal and oil, but also smoke from burning tropical forests.

Source: NASA

B Corp

B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Basic requirements to become a BCorp are:

• complete and score at least 80 out of 200 points on B Lab’s Impact Assessment
• incorporate language that permits the company to address societal goals into legal formation documents
• sign the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence and Term Sheet

Companies must re-apply every two years to maintain certification.

Backcasting

Backcasting is a planning methodology where a desired future is defined using either basic principles (i.e. conditions that must be met within the system) or scenarios (i.e. simplified images of the future). An assessment is then made of the current system and strategic actions are identified, prioritized according to their ability to achieve the desired outcome, implemented, and reviewed.

An alternative to traditional forecasting, backcasting is especially useful in uncertain circumstances, when there is a need for a major systemic change, when problems are complex, when the problem is primarily a matter of externalities, when the scope is wide enough and the time frame long enough to enable thoughtful choice, and when dominant systems are part of the problem.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Balanced scorecard

A process introduced by Robert S. Kaplan and David Norton in 1992 designed to give managers tools for measuring the performance of a business from a:

• Financial perspective,
• Customer perspective,
• Business process perspective, and a
• Learning and growth perspective

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Base year

The initial point in time for which data is available and against which positive and negative progress is measured.

Baseline

An initial set of data which serves as a basis for comparison for subsequently acquired data. Baseline data is ideally collected before any intervention has occurred. In the case of greenhouse gas emissions, for example, baseline data would be the total emissions from the first year you have access to enough information to calculate a complete footprint. That set of data serves as the marker against which future progress towards goals and targets will be measured.

Benchmark

A point of reference used to compare, evaluate, or assess level of quality and performance.

Benefit Corporation

A benefit corporation is a type of for-profit legal form that permits companies to work towards societal goals, while increasing shareholder value, without risking a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit. This legal form creates a solid foundation for long-term mission alignment and value creation, putting shareholders on notice that the company will not maximize shareholder returns where expenditures are needed to address environmental and social impacts of business operations.

Benefit corporations and B Corps are often used interchangeably to describe this type of for-profit company. While they share many similarities and are complementary, there are differences. Benefit corporations are legal business entities, whereas B Corps are designated by certification. A benefit corporation can be certified as a B Corp, but doesn’t have to be. There are other ways to satisfy the requirements of being a benefit corporation. Likewise, a B Corp can be a benefit corporation, but it can also be an LLC, C corporation, or other type of legal business entity.

Bill of materials

A bill of materials or product structure (sometimes bill of material, BOM or associated list) is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end product.

Bioaccumulation

The process by which toxins accumulate in living tissue, such as in plants, fish, or people. Toxins can come from ingestion or direct contact with contaminated air, water, or food. Toxins accumulate to the extent the organism is unable to process and discharge a particular toxin.

Bio-based material

“Bio-“ is Greek for life. Bio-based material refers to a products main constituent consisting of a substance, or substances, originally derived from living organisms. These substances may be natural or synthesized organic compounds that exist in nature.

This definition could include natural materials such as leather and wood, but typically refers to modern materials. Many of the modern innovations use bio-based materials to create products that biodegrade. Some examples are: cornstarch, derived from a grain and now being used in the creation of packaging pellets; bio-plastics created with soybean oil, now being used in the creation of many modern products like tractors, water bottles, and take away cutlery.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Biocapacity

The ability of a biologically productive area, such as Earth’s ecosystem, to supply resources and absorb wastes. Biocapacity can increase or decrease over time with changes in demand or as a result of technological advances.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is a type of fuel that is highly suitable for diesel engines. More specifically it is derived from a variety of oils such as soybean, corn, algae, and peanut oil, and is distinct from its origin in that it is more easily combustible due to a process of glycerin removal; it can be easily blended with petroleum and/or other biodiesel fuels.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Biodiversity

The biological diversity of life on Earth. As human influence spreads, there is concern over the reduction of the total number of species and its effect on economics, medicine, and the ability of ecosystems to remain viable. Some measures of biodiversity loss are the World Wildlife Fund’s Inventory, and the IUCN Red List. WEO Wilson (Harvard University) and Peter Raven (Missouri Botanical Gardens) are key leaders in tracking and understanding the value of biodiversity.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainability Management

Biofuel

Biofuel is any fuel derived from an organic material that is not fossilized like coal or petroleum. Common sources of biofuel grown for the U.S and European markets are corn, soybeans, flaxseed and rapeseed. Biofuel can appear in solid, liquid, or gas form. It is used to produce heat or electricity, or to power machinery using burners, broilers, generators, internal combustion engines, turbines or fuel cells. Biofuel is a renewable energy, but there is some controversy that it is not sustainable due to the harvesting of biomass and the byproducts produced during the burning of biofuels.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Biomass

Organic, non-fossil material that is available on a renewable basis. Biomass includes all biological organisms, dead or alive, and their metabolic by products, that have not been transformed by geological processes into substances such as coal or petroleum. Examples of biomass are forest and mill residues, agricultural crops and wastes, wood and wood wastes, animal wastes, livestock operation residues, aquatic plants, and municipal and industrial wastes.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Biomimicry

Applying lessons learned from the study of natural methods and systems to the design of technology. Science writer Janine Benyus articulates nine principles in her 1997 book Biomimicry:

1. Nature runs on sunlight
2. Nature uses only the energy it needs
3. Nature fits form to function
4. Nature recycles everything
5. Nature rewards cooperation
6. Nature banks on diversity
7. Nature demands local expertise
8. Nature curbs excesses from within
9. Nature taps the power of limits

Bioremediation

A process by which microorganisms change toxic compounds into non-toxic ones.

Biosphere

Coined in 1875 by Eduard Suess, the biosphere is that part of a planet’s outer shell—including air, land, and water—within which life occurs, and which biotic processes alter or transform. From the broadest geophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere (rocks), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainability Management

Black swan event

The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight. The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to explain:

1. The disproportionate role of high-profile, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations in history, science, finance, and technology.
2. The non-computability of the probability of the consequential rare events using scientific methods (owing to the very nature of small probabilities).
3. The psychological biases that blind people, both individually and collectively, to uncertainty and to a rare event’s massive role in historical affairs.

Source: Wikipedia

Board diversity

Directors have a variety of skills, expertise, and experiences and fairly reflect and represent the race and ethnicity, gender and sexual identification, religion, disability, socio-economic status, veteran status, and age of a company’s primary markets.

Board independence

Independent members of a board of directors have no ownership interest in the company they serve, are not related to or otherwise affiliated with any members of the management team, and have minimal or no business dealings with the company to avoid conflicts of interest. The determination of independence is more proscribed for publicly traded companies, where factors are determined based on legal requirements and stock exchange rules. Some stock exchanges require that a set percentage or a majority of public company directors be independent.

Borrow, use, return

The borrow, use, return model, sometimes called “cradle to cradle,” follows a circular, closed-loop system of industrial production and consumption. The model is as follows:

• Borrow: extraction of energy and raw materials with minimal harm to the environment
• Design and Use: phase out use of toxic and bioaccumulating substances and design products that are energy and water efficient
• Return: recirculate or decompose biological materials to natural ecosystems

Bottom of the pyramid

A term developed by Stuart Hart and C. K. Prahalad at the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and now popularized by Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. It refers to the poorest people in the world. These people tend to pay more for the same food, products, and borrowing than rich people and are usually underserved by markets and services. Contrary to most expectations, because of their numbers, they still represent a huge market if affordable products and services can be offered to them.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Brand

Often referred to as a promise or expectation, a brand is the collective market understanding or perspective of a company, product, or service (either from the perspective of customers, competitors, partners, or peers). A strong brand can have considerable value in the marketplace but this value is only derived in action and does not appear on a company’s balance sheet as an asset in many countries, such as the US. Brand value is difficult to measure and there are few consistent approaches in measuring absolute value or change in value over time. In England, however, brands are given specific value on the balance sheet, where a consistent measure is employed

Brand experience

Often confused with a corporate identity or package design, a brand experience is the total interaction of customers with a company, product, service, or other offering through all senses, media, and touchpoints (such as television advertising, customer service, product use, etc.).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Branding

The process of developing a brand or brand strategy for a product, service, or organization.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Brownfields

Brownfield is a term used in urban planning to describe land previously used for industrial purposes or some commercial uses. The land may have been contaminated with hazardous waste or pollution or is feared to be so. Once cleaned up, such an area can become host to a business development. Land that is more severely contaminated and has high concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution, such as a Superfund site, does not fall under the brownfield classification.

Brownout

A brownout is an intentional or unintentional drop in voltage in an electrical power supply system. Intentional brownouts are used for load reduction in an emergency.

Source: Wikipedia

Building envelope

The physical separators between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building including the resistance to air, water, heat, light, and noise transfer. The three basic elements of a building envelope are a weather barrier, air barrier, and thermal barrier. The weather barrier may be in a different location than the air and thermal barriers such as in a house with an unheated attic. The term building envelope is sometimes used synonymously with building enclosure, but the latter term also includes the broader aspects of appearance, structure, safety from fire, and security. The act of creating a building envelope is sometimes called weatherization.

Source: Wikipedia

Business behavioral norms

Business behaviors norms are the unwritten social and behavioral expectations of a business environment outside of or in addition to written codes of conduct or legal requirements.

Business model

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural, or other contexts. The process of business model construction is part of business strategy. In theory and practice, the term business model is used for a broad range of informal and formal descriptions to represent core aspects of a business, including purpose, business process, target customers, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, sourcing, trading practices, and operational processes and policies including culture.

Source: Wikipedia

Business partner

A company or individual on whose business or participation an organization depends to do its own business. This could be a primary supplier/contractor or referral source. It could be a significant distribution channel.

Buycott

The inverse of a boycott. When consumers consciously leverage their buying power to throw their support behind companies whose actions and/or goals they advocate.

Also referred to as “procot.”

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable of Management

By-product

A secondary product or material derived from a manufacturing or chemical process. Although often considered waste, by-products can be valuable and may be sold for alternative use or added back into the manufacturing process.

CAFE standards

The fuel standards for passenger cars and light trucks were established as part of the Energy Policy Conservation Act (EPCA) enacted in 1975. The Act was passed in response to the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. Though generally opposed by industry, increasing these standards has been advocated by environmentalists as an important step towards decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing U.S. dependence on oil. CAFE stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Cap and trade

Cap and trade is a market based policy tool, which sets a cap on the amount of emissions from a group of sources with the end goal of reducing the overall pollution in a nation, region, or industry.

The intention is to incentivize a reduction in emissions and penalize those who don’t comply. Participants in cap and trade receive allowances and can design their own compliance strategy giving them flexibility to sell and purchase emissions, in addition to other methods in order to comply with total allowances limited by the cap.

This system is a popular option used to reduce emission of pollutants, most notably green house gases. It operates similarly to a stock market in which the benefit of the system goes to the nations, regions or industry that are able to reduce their emissions through its use.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Capacity building

Capacity building (or capacity development) is the process by which individuals and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the skills, knowledge, tools, equipment and other resources needed to do their jobs competently or to a greater capacity (larger scale, larger audience, larger impact, etc). Community capacity building is a conceptual approach to social, behavioral change and leads to infrastructure development. It simultaneously focuses on understanding the obstacles that inhibit people, governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from realizing their development goals and enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results.

Source: Wikipedia

Capital stock

In the context of sustainability, an organization’s total social, natural, and economic capital. Capital stock are the things of value that an organization uses to create additional value or replace depreciated value. Capital stock can be increased through human labor, but also through the decisions and behaviors of an organization that affect its ability to generate revenue. Capital stock includes intangibles. Examples of intangibles are product and services reputation, social license to operate, environmental stewardship, community needs engagement, and perceptions of fiscal and social responsibility.

Carbon accounting

The process of measuring all greenhouse gases emitted by an entity.

Carbon budget

The total amount of greenhouse gases world populations can emit and still limit warming to no more than 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels.

Carbon cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle, the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to making the Earth capable of sustaining life; it describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere.

Source: Wikipedia

Carbon emissions

The measure of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activity of an entity.

Carbon emissions scopes

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard classifies a company’s GHG emissions into three ‘scopes’. Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions.

Source: GHG Protocol

Carbon footprint

The total amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by or attributed to an entity, as the result of its activities over a given period of time. All GHGs are converted to carbon dioxide equivalents, summed and expressed as carbon dioxide.

NOTE: Sometimes the term GHG footprint is used for this meaning and carbon footprint is used to refer only to total emissions of carbon dioxide. In Sustrana we use GHG footprint and carbon footprint interchangeably to have the same meaning given here.

Carbon insetting

Carbon insetting refers participating in or financially contributing to carbon reduction projects within a company’s supply chain to generate Scope 3 emissions reductions. This is in distinction from carbon offsetting, which is a practice of buying, through market-driven trading systems, the rights to emissions reductions that an unrelated third party has achieved.

Carbon neutral

The condition of having a zero carbon footprint, i.e., having no carbon emissions created by or attributable to an organization. This may be achieved on an accounting basis by purchasing carbon credits or offsets to negate actual emissions.

Carbon pricing

Carbon pricing — the method favored by many economists for reducing global-warming emissions — charges those who emit carbon dioxide (CO2) for their emissions. That charge, called a carbon price, is the amount that must be paid for the right to emit one tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere. Carbon pricing usually takes the form either of a carbon tax or a requirement to purchase permits to emit, generally known as cap-and-trade, but also called “allowances.”

Source: Wikipedia

Carbon sink

A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period. The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration. The natural sinks are: absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans via physicochemical and biological processes; and photosynthesis by terrestrial plants. Natural sinks are typically much bigger than artificial sinks. The main artificial sinks are: landfills; carbon capture and storage proposals.

Source: Wikipedia

Carbon trading

Any trading system designed to offset carbon emissions from one activity (such as burning fossil fuels in manufacturing, driving, or flying) with another (such as installing more efficient technologies, planting carbon-reducing plants, or establishing contracts with others not to partake in carbon-releasing activities). The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is the first and biggest carbon trading market in existence and is modeled on a stock market. Other programs, such as driveneutral.org also allow carbon trading for individuals without interfacing directly with the CCX or other trading systems.

When activities that reduce or capture carbon are paired successfully with those that produce it, these are said to be carbon neutral or climate neutral.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Cause-related marketing

A way that businesses and corporations support and promote nonprofit organizations. A cause marketing program allows a business to engage with nonprofits over and above their community relations program. As the name suggests, the emphasis is on marketing, and that means that a business will draw on its sales and marketing resources to make the program successful. This can be a great benefit to nonprofits who often have more limited marketing budgets and who tend to have less reach than many businesses.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Child labor

Engaging children to perform work in a business or industry, especially when inhumane or in violation of laws prohibiting employment below a specified minimum age. It is often defined as work that is mentally, physically, socially, or morally dangerous and harmful to children, including work that impairs or deprives a child of the opportunity or ability to get an education.

Circular economy

The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which material flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere.

Clean development mechanism (CDM)

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a carbon trading system, defined in article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol, with the objective to cut green house gas emissions. To achieve their emission-cutting obligations, developed countries invest in the installation of green technology in developing countries in return for carbon credits.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Clean production

Manufacturing processes designed to minimize environmental impact by using the minimum amount of energy and raw materials possible and producing limited waste or emissions.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Clear cutting

A process where all trees in a selected area are felled in a logging operation. Although some areas may be planted, seeded or naturally regenerated, the effect on the environment can be extremely destructive. The act of clear cutting is not only damaging to the structure and function of the forest, but in particularly erosion-prone areas the loss of root structures significantly affects water quality, and leads to the loss and fragmentation of nutrient rich soil, creating a lack of regenerative biomass and reduces primary growth. It is the most devastating and most cost-effective means known to harvest high yields of timber rapidly.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Climate change

Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years). Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather around longer-term average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics (leading to volcanic eruptions), and human activities that contribute significantly to global warming.

Source: Wikipedia

Closed Loop Process

A closed loop process is a process of creating a material or a product that can be disassembled at the end of it’s useful life to create a new product, creating no waste in the process.

Closed-loop supply chain

Ideally, a zero-waste supply chain that completely reuses, recycles, or composts all materials. However, the term can also be used to refer to corporate take-back programs, where companies that produce a good are also responsible for its disposal.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is a recently evolved computing terminology or metaphor based on utility and consumption of computing resources. Cloud computing involves deploying groups of remote servers and software networks that allow centralized data storage and online access to computer services or resources.

CO2-equivalent (CO2-e)

The universal unit of measurement to indicate the global warming potential (GWP) of each of the six greenhouse gases, expressed in terms of the GWP of one unit of carbon dioxide. It is used so that the impact of releasing (or avoiding releasing) different greenhouse gases can be evaluated on a par.

Cogeneration

Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of electrical and thermal energy from the same fuel source. For example, surplus heat from an electric generating plant can be used for industrial processes, or space and water heating purposes. Or, waste heat from an industrial process can be used to power an electric generator.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Collapse

In evolutionary biologist Jared M. Diamond’s 2004 book, Collapse, he suggests that human societies collapse far more often than they succeed and that this failure is usually due to an inappropriate cultural response to environmental pressures (anthropogenic and otherwise) and poor relations with, or a lack of, neighboring societies.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Collective intelligence

Defined by George Pór, in The Quest for Collective Intelligence (1995), as the capacity of a human community to evolve toward higher order complexity thought, problem-solving and integration through collaboration and innovation. James Surowiecki, in The Wisdom of Crowds, says “The more influence a group’s members exert on each other, and the more personal contact they have with each other, the less likely it is that that group’s decisions will be wise ones… Adding a few people who know less, but have diverse skills, actually improves the group’s performance.”

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Command and control system

A command and control system is the traditional hierarchical system companies operate under. The top level makes decisions and pass them down to the rest of the organization. It is well suited for stable and predictable business environments and prescribes rules and regulation.

Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)

The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, including their energy-related building characteristics and energy usage data (consumption and expenditures).

Commodity

A raw material or agricultural plant or animal that can be bought or sold is a commodity. The term commodity is often used interchangeably with the term raw material, but the latter doesn’t quite get across the agricultural component of commodities. One way to think about what constitutes a commodity is to consider whether an item has components or has been transformed from something else. If no, it’s a commodity. For example, wheat is wheat and nothing else. Bread is wheat flour (which has been processed from wheat) and a bunch of other things. Wheat is a commodity, while bread is a good, and when labeled or branded, a product.

Common capitals

Common capitals are the multitude of elements (air, workers, public infrastructure, communications networks and the people in them) available to a company for the creation or protection of value, but which are not either owned or otherwise fully controlled by the company.

Community choice aggregation (CCA)

A new energy management model developing in California. Community Choice Aggregation permits any city, county, or joint powers authority to aggregate the electrical loads of residents, businesses, and municipal facilities for electricity purchases. An “opt-out” provision allows constituents to elect not to participate in Community Choice and to continue having their current utility provide their […]

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Community needs assessment

This is a comprehensive analysis of a community’s needs and requirements. It determines on a priority basis what resources (people, functions, or systems) are lacking in order to make appropriate investments and achieve community objectives.

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL)

Lightbulbs that save energy and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. Though they contain mercury and require specialty disposal, CFLs provide an easy and effective way to save energy by comparison to incandescent bulbs.

Competitive advantage

The ability one organization has to outperform others in producing products and services of higher quality, lower price, or of greater value for customers. To be a truly effective the advantage must be:

• Difficult to mimic
• Unique
• Sustainable
• Superior to the competition
• Applicable to multiple situations

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Complex adaptive systems

Complex adaptive systems collections of connected microstructures, capable of adapting to the changing environment to increase survivability as a macro-structure. They are complex in that they are dynamic networks of interactions. Any change in one element of the system will affect and be affected by several other elements or sub-systems. They are adaptive in the way that individual and collective behavior mutates and self-organizes in response to a micro-event or collection of events. Interactions are non-linear; small changes in inputs or stimuli can cause significant effects or changes in outputs.

Compliance

Compliance can be the first step to sustainability. Compliance can be achieved through a commitment to social expectations and the law or simply by observing the letter of a law. For businesses striving to achieve restorative, sustainable practices, compliance becomes not a motivation, but simply a minimum baseline against which to measure achievable cost savings increases in profitability, market share, share price, and stockholders’ equity.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Conflict minerals

Conflict minerals are natural resources extracted in war-torn regions and sold to finance armed conflict and human rights abuses, most notably in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The use of conflict minerals is increasingly scrutinized within organizational supply chains. In the United States, minerals that are regulated as conflict minerals are Tantalum, Tin, Tungsten, and Gold.

Contextualize, Define, Adapt (CDA)

The CDA Framework was established and adapted from the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) Methodology for Implementing Sustainability Projects in Six Sigma for Sustainability. It is a framework for project approvals that incorporates six sigma principles related to efficiency and strategy.

Contextualized metrics

A contextualized or context-based metric expresses an organization’s performance for a specific factor (e.g., water used) in relation to a norm or standard that ensures sustainable use by or conditions for all for whom the source is or should be made available (e.g., the rate of water use available to all users drawing from that source, where the rate sustains a renewable water supply) during a defined period of time (e.g., one year).

Continual Improvement Process (CIP)

A continual improvement process (CIP) is a business management effort to make products, services, and processes more efficient and effective over time. The goal is to focus a company’s workforcing on how to get better all the time. Improvements may be incremental or breakthrough. CIP is an umbrella term for several approaches to implementing this business management process, including: Plan-Do-Check-Act, Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, and ISO standards 9000 and 14000.

Coopetition

A practice of competitors cooperating and working with each other for a limited purpose on a project, joint venture, or co-marketing basis. Coopetition is often used to break through a market barrier when no one competitor can do so alone. Once the barrier is removed, competition resumes in the newly created open market space.

Core competencies

The primary skills, abilities, and knowledge used to excel at a particular endeavor. Businesses tend to focus on their core competencies in an effort to take advantage of “what they are good at.” Often, core competencies may go unrecognized within an organization that focuses too much on their markets, products, and services and not their skills, knowledge, and experience. For example, a large retailer’s core competencies might include shipping and transportation services, real estate management, and training s well as their retailing experience.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Corporate citizenship

The expectation that drives companies to interact with their wider communities in an ethical and socially-responsible manner. Many companies view themselves as other than citizens of the places they do business or define business as having no social or ethical responsibilities. Increasingly, however, organizations are reconciling their corporate goals with those of their stakeholders, including local communities and their customers’ values. Good corporate citizenship involves: legal compliance, employee relations, environmental performance, transparency, human rights, product stewardship, stakeholder communication, profitability, strategy integration, and community involvement.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Corporate responsibility (CR)

A corporate initiative to assess and take responsibility for the company’s effects on the environment, and its impact on social welfare. It applies to the company efforts that go beyond what may be required by regulators or environmental protection groups.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

A corporate initiative to assess and take responsibility for the company’s impact on social welfare, particularly in the communities where the company is located.

Corruption

Corruption is a broad term for illegal or highly unethical businesses practices, including fraud, blackmail, bribery, embezzlement, extortion, theft, and other deceptive practices such as conflicts of interest, misrepresentations, and withholding information for gain. Corruption typically involves someone using a position of power for personal gain.

Cost benefit analysis

Cost Benefit Analysis is a financial method of evaluating the feasibility of a project or program by systematically summing its benefits and deducting its costs. It represents an advance over traditional forms of valuation in that it includes opportunity costs, cost of externalities and costs of intangible assets.

It is used in private projects as well as urban and regional forecasting, bridging sustainable management and economic development. For instance, the US’s Environmental Protection Agency has been required for the past 15 years to quantify the benefits of environmental protection, relative to costs, using cost-benefit analysis. It is an increasingly applied tool in risk management modeling, as it not only factors in the economic valuations of a project or program, but the environmental and social valuations as well.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Cradle-to-cradle

A phrase invented by Walter R. Stahel in the 1970s and popularized by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book of the same name. This framework seeks to create production techniques that are not just efficient but are essentially waste free. In cradle to cradle production all material inputs and outputs are seen either as technical or biological nutrients. Technical nutrients can be recycled or reused with no loss of quality and biological nutrients composted or consumed. By contrast cradle to grave refers to a company taking responsibility for the disposal of goods it has produced, but not necessarily putting products’ constiuent components back into service.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Cradle-to-grave

See Take, make, waste definition.

Critical path

In project management, the critical path is the longest sequence of activities in a project plan. It determines whether or not a project can be completed on time. Certain activities along the critical path require other activities to finish before they can begin.

Customer experience

The entire experience a customer has with an organization’s product or service as important to the value that product, service, or brand has to the customer, as well as the relationship built between the product, service, or organization that provides it. The experience is, often, more than the features or use or the product or service and extends from the moment the customer perceives need, through the purchasing and use of the product or service, until it is disposed of (and/or replaced). The experience is also the sum total of all the time spent with the offering, the senses through which it is experienced, the emotional, conceptual, and physical triggers it creates to memories and any identity or other social contexts experienced by the buyer, user, participant, or audience.

At the deepest level, products and services can evoke meaning within customers, which can create satisfying experiences and the deepest connections and relationships to an offering or the organization who provides it.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Customer relations

The processes and strategies that define whether there is mutual value for the company and its customers. Good ones create mutual value; bad one destroy it.

Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a customer’s positive judgment that the overall experience in obtaining, using, and disposing of the physical aspects of a product or service meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations.

Data normalization

Data normalization is a process of making adjustments to quantitative data obtained from different sources and/or at different periods to permit comparative analysis.

Data virtualization

Data virtualization is any approach to data management that allows an application to retrieve and manipulate data without requiring technical details about the data, such as how it is formatted or where it is physically located.

Database management software

Software that controls the organization, storage, retrieval, security and integrity of data in a database. It accepts requests from the application and instructs the operating system to transfer the appropriate data. The major DBMS vendors are Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and Sybase.

Deforestation

The clearing or intentional destruction or removal of virgin forests for agricultural, commercial, housing, or firewood use, without replanting and allowing time for the forest to regenerate itself before or because an alternative use is established. Because forests are carbon sinks, deforestation contributes to the greenhouse effect. It can also lead to desertification.

Deliverable

Deliverable is a term used in project management to describe a tangible or intangible object produced as a result of the project that is intended to be delivered to a customer (either internal or external). A deliverable could be a report, a document, a server upgrade or any other building block of an overall project. A deliverable may be composed of multiple smaller deliverables.

Source: Wikipedia

Demand response

According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, demand response (DR) is defined as: “Changes in electric usage by end-use customers from their normal consumption patterns in response to changes in the price of electricity over time, or to incentive payments designed to induce lower electricity use at times of high wholesale market prices or when system reliability is jeopardized.”

Demand-side management

Also known as energy demand management, DSM is used in the electric utility industry as a technique to reduce peak demand under periods where the systems are constrained. This peak demand management does not necessarily decrease total energy consumption but does reduce the need for future investments in networks and/or power plants by increasing efficiency.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Dematerialization

Reducing the total material that goes toward providing benefits to customers. May be accomplished through greater efficiency, the use of better or more appropriate materials, or by creating a service that produces the same benefit as a product.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Desertification

Conversion of a grassland or an arid land (often magnified by droughts) into a desert through actions such as overgrazing, repeated burning, intensive farming, and stripping of vegetation through deforestation.

Design for environment

Design for Environment (DfE) is a process used in many industries to help organizations improve the environmental impact of their products and services throughout the development process. Each industry approaches this process differently and there are few standards. In addition, for small manufacturers, this is often seen as a time-consuming and expensive additional cost. This is still a new process for most designers and engineers but it is slowly growing. More information: Manufacturing Best Practices and Design for Environment Guide and PPRC Publications.
Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Destination

A destination is the purpose for traveling. In sustainability work, the destination is your vision of a sustainable organization. It is the reason and intent behind a journey and the circumstances or conditions one will be in at the end of a journey.

Discounted cash flow

A financial term referring to the value of an investment adjusted for the time value of money. Since money loses value over time, future cash to be received must be discounted to express its present value (today) in order to properly determine the value of a company or project under consideration. As the payment gets further into the future, its present value drops. Also, increasing the interest rate would further reduce the present value. It is an important criterion in evaluating or comparing investments or purchases; other things being equal, the purchase or investment associated with the larger DCF is the better decision. Discounted Cash Flow relates to Sustainability in a powerful way. Human-made capital provides diminishing utility as it depreciates over time. Natural capital, which includes the planet itself, all minerals, all species, water, soil and air, does not depreciate over time, and theoretically may provide positive utility over time periods that tend towards infinity.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Discounting

In economics, converting future dollars into their present value. This can be a misleading indicator because, for example, when damage happens far in the future, discounting can make it seem less costly, such as with pollution or nuclear waste. Also, when benefits occur far in the future, their costs are often more difficult to justify since their value is discounted (such as with reforestation with slow-growing hardwoods). Resource extraction rates are also affected by the discount rate: a high discount rate could cause resources to be used up quickly, leaving fewer available for future generations.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Disruptive innovation

An innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leaders and alliances. The term was defined and phenomenon analyzed by Clayton M. Christensen beginning in 1995.

Source: Wikipedia

Diversity

In nature, diversity is a source of ecosystem strength since failures are unlikely to eliminate all species. Therefore, the ecosystem will recover in some form and continue. In business or investing, diversity can provide a similar source of robustness against market instability or failures. Specifically, when applied to a human context, diversity refers to a wide variety of cultures, ethnic groups, physical features (and race), socio-economic backgrounds, opinions, religious beliefs, sexuality, and gender identity.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Domestic water

Domestic water is water used to provide cold or heated water for consumption, cleaning, washing, flushing toilets, or irrigation. It can be potable or non-potable, depending on the type of use and applicable regulations.

Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI)

A financial index that measures corporate sustainability initiatives by evaluating how a publicly traded company recognizes in its business strategy risks and opportunities that arise from sustainability issues. Companies are assessed and selected for inclusion in the DJSI based on their long term economic, social, and environmental asset management plans.

Downcycle

A term coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braungart to describe a process of converting materials and products into new materials, but of lesser quality, each time they reach the end of a useful life cycle until there is no lower value reuse and disposal is required.

Earth overshoot day

Earth Overshoot Day is the day each calendar year when the human demand, the natural resources we consume and the carbon dioxide emissions we create, exceeds the planet’s ability to regenerate those resources and reabsorb the carbon emissions generated during the same calendar year. Our first Overshoot Day occurred in the 1970’s and the date has come earlier and earlier each year. Earth Overshoot Day for 2010 was August 21st. It is calculated annually by the Global Footprint Network and was originally devised by the new economics foundation.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Eco-effectiveness

The central strategy in the cradle-to-cradle development method and seeks to create industrial systems that emulate healthy natural systems. The central principle of eco-effectiveness is that “waste equals food.” The concept was developed in response to some of the perceived limitations of eco-efficiency which critics claim only slow down the rate of environmental depletion and don’t reverse the production of unused or non-recycled waste.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Eco-efficiency

A term for leveraging technological and process changes in order to generate solutions that offer more value than current offerings while reducing resource use and environmental impact throughout the product or service’s life. Ideally, eco-efficiency not only achieves the best possible efficiency in terms of materials and energy used in the creation, use, and disposal of a product or service, but it might leave residual value equal to or higher than these inputs.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Eco-industrial park

Two or more separate industrial processes co-located in to form mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationships in which each participant’s environmental and resource issues (including energy, water, materials and waste) are managed in a manner that improves their environmental and economic performance. These parks may employ features such as:

• Conversion of wastes into valuable inputs
• Cogeneration of energy
• Minimization of material throughput

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Eco-labels

An environmental label or declaration that provides information about a product or service in terms of its overall environmental character, a specific environmental aspect or number of environmental aspects. The information can be used to influence or inform purchasing decisions. Eco-labels may take the form of a statement, symbol, or graphic and be found, in part, on products or packaging and in product literature or advertising.

Eco-labels are supported through first, second, or third-party certification. First-party claims are self-declarations that have not been independently tested or verified. Second-party claims may involve a conflict of interest (e.g. retailer branding of vendor products). Third-party claims are founded on independent testing and verification by a certification body that ensures: no financial or consulting conflict of interest and transparent processes and standards to ensure impartial and equal assessment.

The International Organization for Standardization has written standards that define types of environmental labels: Type I, Type II, and Type III.

Type I labels, defined in ISO 14024, indicate voluntary conformance to pre-determined, multi-attribute criteria that identify environmentally preferable products within a particular product category, based upon life cycle considerations. Type I labels are awarded by third-party public or private agencies. Examples include the Nordic Swan and Blue Angel labels in Europe.

Type II labels can be first, second, or third-party certified and focus on single attribute environmental claims such as energy consumption, indoor air quality, or recycled content. Examples include: Energy Star,WaterSense,Greenguard, and SCS Recycled Content.

Type III labels, often referred to as environmental product declarations (EPDs), provide comprehensive product information based on quantitative life cycle assessment. There is little adoption in the U.S of this type of eco-label at present, though Europe is increasingly requiring EPDs. Some examples of Type III eco-labels include efforts by Reveal (concept created by Presidio students) and SCS.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Ecological economics

An interdisciplinary framework that seeks to merge the two historically separate fields of economics and ecology. It assumes that: 1) there is an inherent link between the health of the Earth’s ecosystem and the economic system created by human beings; 2) the economy is a subsystem of the earth’s ecological system; and 3) by understanding how each system flows into and out of the other, each can thrive and prosper. Ecological Economics differs from Environmental Economics in that it places macroeconomics within the sphere of the earth’s ecosystem, whereas Environmental Economics sees the two as distinct.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Ecological footprint

A term coined by ecologist William Rees and Mathis Wackernage to describe the total ecological impact (the amount of land, food, water, and other resources needed) to sustain a person or organization. This is usually measured in acres or hectares of productive land. It is used to determine relative consumption and is frequently used as an education and resource management tool. When addressing large populations (such as countries), the total productive capacity of the Earth is sometimes used. For example, on average, the population of the USA consumes so many resources that were the rest of the world’s population to consume at the same level, several more Earths would be needed to meet the demand.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Ecological marketing

Developed in the 1990s, a marketing approach to highlight products and production methods that improve environmental performance, further ecological causes, or solve environmental problems. Marketing products and services on these effects is growing but not all environmental claims are accurate. Some might be examples of green-washing. Ecological marketing works well with some groups of users, in particular “True-Blue Greens” or other groups oriented toward ecological causes. Commonly referred to claims include “non-toxic” and “bio-degradable.” However, these claims may turn-off other customers who are sceptical of environmental claims.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Ecology

Derived from the Greek words oikos, and logos meaning “study of home.” Preceding the 1935 introduction of the term “ecosystem” by Sir Arthur Tansley, Vladimir I. Vernadsky used it to define the science of the biosphere. Ecology studies the Earth and its systems, including the interrelationships of all living things and all elements of their environment. The science was further developed from the work of Ernest Haeckel when investigating ‘the study of living things within their environmental context’.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS)

An EU program recognizing organizations that are continuously improving their environmental performance beyond what is legally required. Organizations regularly produce statements reporting their compliancy and performance. Once becoming verified, they are recognized by an EMAS logo.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Economic capital

From a planetary perspective, this is the value created by the distribution of revenue derived from the use of natural and human capital. In traditional business terms, it often refers to the distribution of revenue at an organization’s disposal for funding business operations and creating profits. From a sustainability perspective, this business concept is expanded to consider the value created from all the ways in which revenue is distributed. Economic capital can be spent on operations or to generate revenue or profits, or held to support access to credit. It can also be used to create additional social and environmental capital.

Economic sustainability

Economic sustainability relates to an organization’s direct impacts on the economy. This extends beyond the important baseline of making sure that an organization is profitable. Economic sustainability concerns how an organization distributes its revenue. Is the organization’s distribution of revenues among employees, management, shareholders, and the community reasonable? Does the organization promote and support local economic development through community partnerships or hiring? Is the organization transparent about its financial health, ownership, investments, and advocacy? These are some of the considerations that go into an analysis of economic sustainability.

Economic value added (EVA)

An estimate of a business’ true economic profit for the year, differing sharply from accounting profit. EVA represents the residual income that remains after the cost of all capital, including equity capital has been deducted, whereas accounting profit is determined without imposing a charge for equity capital. The basic formula for EVA is as follows: EVA = Net Operating Profit After Taxes (or NOPAT) – After-Tax Dollar Cost of Capital Used to Support Operations = EBIT (1-Corporate Tax Rate) – (Operating Capital)*(After-Tax Percentage Cost of Capital) Equity capital has a cost, because funds provided by shareholders could have been invested elsewhere where they would have earned a return. Shareholders give up the opportunity to invest funds elsewhere when they provide capital to the firm. The return they could earn elsewhere in investments of equal risk represents the cost of equity capital. This cost is an opportunity cost rather than an accounting cost. It is important to note that when calculating EVA we do not add back depreciation. Although it is not a cash expense, deprecation is a cost, and it is therefore deducted when determining both net income and EVA.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a dynamic and interdependent community of organisms that interact with each other and their physical environment. An ecosystem can include people, animals, plants, and microorganisms, as well as the environmental conditions that support them.

Ecosystem function

The physical and biological processes and characteristic activities that allow an ecosystem to exist and maintain its integrity.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Ecosystem services

Functions and benefits provided by the Earth’s ecosystem such as food, raw materials, medicines, hydro energy, clean air and water, pest and disease control, soil regeneration, shade, wind, tidal currents, plant pollination, nutrient cycles, and human art, recreation and enjoyment. Sometimes these benefits are grouped into four categories: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural.

Ecotourism

Engaging in responsible travel to natural areas while conserving the environment and improving the well-being of local people. Those who lead or participate in ecotourism activities strive to:

• Minimize their impact
• Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect
• Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts
• Provide direct financial benefits for conservation
• Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people
• Raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climate
• Support international human rights and labor agreements
• Conservation of local, indigenous wildlife and culture

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Efficiency

The relation of outcomes, measured in a variety of ways, to the inputs required for that level of production. In business, efficiency of materials, energy, personnel, investment, and processes are commonly measured in order to measure performance and prioritize expenditures and projects. In sustainable business, a systems perspective requires addressing untraditional economic effects (such as lost energy though waste, lifecycle analysis of materials, toxicity of materials, and subsidies) as well as social and environmental effects in order to assess actually efficiency.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Electric vehicles

Electric vehicles are powered solely by electricity, through an electric motor and rechargeable battery packs. Electric vehicles do not emit GHGs. However, depending on the sourcing of the electricity used to power the vehicle, there may be indirect emissions associated with a vehicle.

Emissions factor

An emissions factor is a representative value that attempts to relate the quantity of a pollutant released to the atmosphere with an activity associated with the release of that pollutant. These factors are usually expressed as the weight of pollutant divided by a unit weight, volume, distance, or duration of the activity emitting the pollutant.

Emissions trading

An approach used by governmental regulatory agencies, private trading systems (such as the CCX), and private companies to reduce air pollution by providing economic incentives to reduce net emissions. Limits or “caps” are set and groups that foresee exceeding these caps may purchase credits from groups that have not the exceeded their emissions levels.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Energy audit

An energy audit is an inspection, survey and analysis of energy flows for energy conservation in a building, process or system to reduce the amount of energy input into the system without negatively affecting the output(s). In commercial and industrial real estate, an energy audit is the first step in identifying opportunities to reduce energy expense and carbon footprints.

Energy efficiency

The least wasteful and most cost-effective way to deliver or consume energy. Energy efficient practices reduce as much energy waste as possible through methods such as improving transmission, reducing leaks, and eliminating unnecessary consumption.

Energy intensity

Energy Intensity is the ratio of energy consumption to gross domestic product measured in Joule/USD. A demand indicator, it was originally a proxy for the energy efficiency of a country, and has been adapted to measure the energy efficiency of cities and corporations.

Energy intensity is an aggregate indicator applicable in both public and private decision-making scenarios, lending itself to scaling, allowing users to draw from a wide variety of benchmarks at the local, regional, national and international levels.

The first company to significantly reduce its US energy intensity within a one year time frame was Volvo: its New River Valley manufacturing plant, producer of 100% of its North American trucks, reduced its energy intensity by 30%, from 79.64 MMbtu per truck in 2009 to 60.42 MMbtu per truck in 2010.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Energy management

The process of systematic planning, sourcing, and distribution of energy resources to meet consumption needs while taking into account environmental and economic impacts.

Energy performance contracting (EPC)

A contract with an architect, designer, or developer in which they are paid a bit more than they conventionally would have been, but part of their fee is paid over time from the savings their solution creates in terms of either performance or efficiency. Conversely, designers and developers are often paid a percentage of the costs of the materials they specify, an incentive to be less efficient.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Energy recovery ventilation (ERV)

The energy recovery process of exchanging the energy contained in normally exhausted building or space air and using it to treat (precondition) the incoming outdoor ventilation air in residential and commercial HVAC systems. During the warmer seasons, the system pre-cools and dehumidifies while humidifying and pre-heating in the cooler seasons.

Energy service company (ESCO)

A company that offers to reduce a client’s energy costs, often by capitalizing the upfront expenditures and sharing the resulting future cost savings with the client. This is typically accomplished through the use of an energy-performance contract (EPC) or a shared-savings agreement. ESCOs may offer any of the following services: financing, design & installation, project management, education services, equipment leasing, maintenance, and verification & auditing. They originally established a foothold under the regulated utility structures by helping large organizations reduce energy consumption. Also known as energy efficiency service providers , ESCOs are important to sustainability in that they enable companies that normally could not afford the upfront investment costs, to become more efficient, more profitable, and reduce their environmental footprint. A true win-win-win if successfully implemented.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Energy star

A series of US governmental programs that rate or permit others to evaluate and obtain a rating on the energy efficiency of appliance, fixtures, and energy and water consumption. The goal is to reduce GHG emissions and help lower utility bills.

Environment

A term loosely used to refer to the total of the Earth’s ecosystems. In an even larger sense, it includes not only the natural environment of ecological, biological, and climate conditions (the biosphere), but also the (human) social conditions that support (or not) various forms of life on the Earth. Some schools of thought cast the environmental as “uncontrollable” by individuals, organizations, governments, and societies and, therefore, ignorable. However, human activity affects the environment in many ways and to various degrees, including climate change, biodiversity, and the health and amount of forests, coral reefs, and other ecosystems.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Environmental accounting

An emerging field that aims to rebalance the treatment of environmental costs and benefits in traditional accounting practice. Separate environmentally-related costs and revenues are identified and new forms of valuation are created which encourage better management decisions and an increased investment in environmental protection and improvement.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Environmental economics

A branch of neoclassical economics that seeks to address environmental problems, such as pollution and negative externalities, using traditional economic mechanisms, such as taxes, tax incentives and subsidies. Environmental Economics differs from Ecological Economics in that it does not view the economy as a subsystem of the ecosystem, but rather as a separate sphere with tools which may be useful to the ecosystem, but are not inherently a part of it.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Environmental footprint

The total of an entity’s carbon, waste, and water footprints.

Environmental justice

A term referring to inequalities in use and access to environmental resources, such as clean air and water and healthy living conditions. Economic disparities or geographic access often reserve clean and healthy environments for wealthier peoples, giving poorer people less access to clean resources or healthy living conditions. Environmental Justice proponents seek to create more equal access or distribution of resources or halt or lower the impact humans have on environmental services, particularly in areas inhabited by poor or disenfranchised people.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Environmental Management System (EMS)

Refers to the management of an organization’s environmental programs in a comprehensive, systematic, planned and documented manner. It includes the organizational structure, planning and resources for developing, implementing and maintaining policy for environmental protection.

Source: Wikipedia

Environmental risk assessment (ERA)

A method of tracking and rating the risks associated with a product and the emissions associated with its manufacturing.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability includes, and goes beyond being compliant with environmental regulations and laws. Activities include work to reduce energy, carbon, water, and waste. There may be activities to preserve biodiversity. An organization may work to develop and sell earth- and people-friendly products and services. Generally, environmental sustainability is the practice of identifying the past, current, and potential negative environmental impacts of an organization, and working to eliminate or avoid them. At its best, environmental sustainability creates positive or regenerative impacts, such as creating more renewable energy than is used.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) refers to the business processes, customs, policies, and laws that define expectations for environmental protection, social norms, and good governance.

Equator Principles

Developed in 2002 by a group of banks, these guidelines are a framework for addressing environmental and social risks in project financing. The purpose of the principles is to screen projects for adverse environmental or human affects in order to safeguard communities and natural habitats. Financial institutions who sign-on to the principles agree not to finance projects that fail to meet these screens. These principles classify projects into three categories depending on these effects and the need to address them.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Equity compensation

Equity ownership as a form of compensation provides employees with an opportunity to share in the value being created through collective activities. Ownership interests awarded in addition to or in lieu of cash compensation typically vest over time and is often restricted to key employees.

ESG screen

An environmental, social, governance (ESG) screen is an analytical tool and process used to evaluate and measure a company’s performance against a set of sustainability best practices criteria. Performance is rated based on the degree to which a company uses those best practices to address underlying sustainability issues, including how it identifies and manages associated risks and opportunities.

Ethics

Philosophically speaking, ethics is concerned with the evaluation of human actions – which attempts to understand the nature of morality and to define that which is right from that which is wrong(1). From a professional viewpoint, ethics typically pertains to a code of professional standards that contain aspects of fairness and duty to the profession and to the general public. A useful distinction between ethics and morals is that morals are influenced by established social customs (which may over time present ethical dilemmas). As applied to sustainability, the consideration of ethics lies at the core of our business, governmental, and collective decision making. In many ways, choices revolving along sustainable concerns are simultaneously ethical as well.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)

The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), also known as the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, was the first large greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme in the world, and remains the biggest. It was launched in 2005 to fight global warming and is a major pillar of EU climate policy.

Source: Wikipedia

Eutrophication

Eutrophication or more precisely hypertrophication, is the ecosystem’s response to the addition of artificial or natural nutrients, mainly phosphates, through detergents, fertilizers, or sewage, to an aquatic system. One example is the “bloom” or great increase of phytoplankton in a water body as a response to increased levels of nutrients. Negative environmental effects include hypoxia, the depletion of oxygen in the water, which may cause death to aquatic animals.

Source: Wikipedia

E-waste

Also known as electronic waste or high-tech trash, it is considered hazardous waste. E-waste contains harmful metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. When these elements are dumped into landfills they leach into our soil and water supply. The health effects of these toxins on humans include birth defects, and brain, heart, liver, kidney and skeletal system damage. They also significantly affect the nervous and reproductive systems of the human body.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Externalities

Externalities are effects of services, products, or production on third parties who were not involved in the buyer/seller relationship. Externalities occur when a third party incurs unintended consequences from the market behaviors of others. Externalities can be either negative (pollution, waste clean-up fees that a community must bear, rather than the generator of the waste), or they can be positive (The Clean Water Act generates positive effects for many who were not involved in enacting the bill).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation is a force that comes from factors external to an individual to perform a particular task in anticipation of gaining a tangible personal reward or avoiding punishment.

Facilitation payments

An exception to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s general prohibition of activity that constitutes bribery payments made to foreign officials. The exception applies if the purpose is to “facilitate or expedite routine governmental action.” The exception focuses on the purpose of the payment rather than on its value. The difficulty in determining whether a payment qualifies for this exception has led many companies to broadly prohibit all payments made to local officials.

Facility energy

Facility energy refers to the energy used or conserved by a building for conditioning spaces and maintaining comfort and amenities for occupants. Areas of concern for energy management include the building envelope (external walls, floors, roofs, ceilings, windows, and doors) and building occupancy systems (HVAC, domestic water, lighting, elevators, security, safety, and communications systems).

Factor 10

The goal of being ten times as productive with half the resources (materials and energy), leading to a factor 10 improvement in efficiency. Alternatively, practices that are just as productive while using only 10% of the resources also qualify. This is an escalated challenge from the concept introduced in the 1998 book, Factor 4, written by L. Hunter Lovins and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Ernst von Weizsäcker, founder of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment & Energy. The book explains how relatively easy it is for businesses to achieve Factor 4 results (four times the efficiency of materials and energy use) with existing technologies. It has many examples of real-world projects that save money and reduce pollution simultaneously.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Factor 4

The goal of being twice as productive with half the resources (materials and energy), leading to a factor 4 improvement in efficiency. Alternatively, practices which are just as productive with 1/4 of the resources or 4 times as effective with the same resources also count.

The concept was introduced in the 1998 book, Factor 4, written by L. Hunter Lovins and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Ernst von Weizsäcker, founder of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment & Energy. The book explains how relatively easy it is for businesses to achieve these results with existing technologies. It has many examples of real-world projects that save money and reduce pollution simultaneously. Another way of phrasing the Factor 4 efficiency gain is that it reduces energy and materials usage by 75%. While Factor Four is a common term representing a minimum four-fold increase, Factor Ten–ten times as much productivity from the same inputs (ranging to the same productivity with 1/10th the resources)–represents an even greater challenge. Factor Ten equates to a 90% decrease in resource usage.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Fair marketing

Fair marketing, also known as ethical marketing, is a marketing philosophy and strategy that promotes honesty, fairness, and responsibility in all products and services marketing and all customer interactions. Marketing about sustainability attributes, particularly regarding a product or service, should be clear and avoid any trace of greenwashing or otherwise making exaggerated claims.

Fair trade

A system of trade in which workers receive living wages and employment opportunities for the goods they produce. This system serves as an alternative approach to conventional international trade for producers who are typically economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers from developing countries. The producers partner with international organizations that help them build their skills to market and sell goods such as crafts, and agricultural products such as coffee and chocolate. For commodities, farmers receive a stable, minimum price. In addition, there are several other criteria to satisfy:

• Forced labor and exploitative child labor are not allowed
• Buyers and producers trade under direct long-term relationships
• Producers have access to financial and technical assistance
• Sustainable production techniques are encouraged
• Working conditions are healthy and safe
• Equal employment opportunities are provided for all
• All aspects of trade and production are open to public accountability

Goods can be certified as Fair Trade by organizations like the Fair Trade Labelling Organization (FLO) which has affiliates in seventeen countries. www.fairtrade.net

International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT) A fair trade networking agency whose 9 standards apply to all Fair Trade Organizations whether they are importers or retailers, exporters, producer societies or support organizations: www.ifat.org Transfair

The only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States: www.transfairusa.org

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Feedback loop

A feedback loop is the series of reactions between inputs and outputs in a system. For example, if the system is a company and its stakeholders, the company’s actions (inputs) influence the quality or quantity of the reaction and response (output) by stakeholders A and B which in turn influence the company’s subsequent actions (inputs).

Source: Wikipedia

Filling rate

Filling rate is the measurement of the number of orders that can be satisfied by the inventory on hand. For example, when a customer orders 10 units, the seller can ship 5 units immediately (their filling rate) and 5 units when the inventory is restocked.

Fixed delivery route

A type of logistical planning where drivers making deliveries will drive on a set route regardless of individual consumer needs. For instance, a waste hauler on a fixed delivery route will not alter its route even if one customer does not have waste to pick up.

Fleet energy

Fleet energy is energy that comes is used for transportation sources such as commercial motor vehicles, private vehicles, aircrafts, ships, and rail cars.

Source: Wikipedia

Forced labor

Forced labor refers to any form of modern slavery, and includes human trafficking, which is the act of moving people from place to place for the purpose of forced labor. The common denominator in all forced labor is the use of fraud or physical and/or psychological force or coercion to exploit and enslave a person. Forced labor includes debt bondage, in which individuals are forced to work to pay off a debt under terms and conditions that make repayment impossible.

Victims are among the most vulnerable populations:

• women and girls who are sexually exploited;
• migrants who are trapped in debt bondage; and
• sweatshop workers who are exploited through low or inadequate in kind compensation such as food and shelter.

Forest materials

Forest materials are derived from the plants and trees that comprise a forest. With proper management and stewardship, forests are capable of natural regeneration and forest materials can be considered renewable.

Fossil fuels

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years. Fossil fuels contain high percentages of carbon and include coal, petroleum and natural gas.

Source: Wikipedia

Freebate

Any system that taxes socially undesirable activities and products and uses the money to support more desirable ones. For example, transportation taxes for gasoline or tolls often support public transportation that has less environmental impact and eases traffic congestion.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Freedom of association

Freedom of association is the right to join or leave groups of a person’s own choosing, and for the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of members. It is both an individual right and a collective right, guaranteed by all modern and democratic legal systems, including the United States Bill of Rights, article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and international law, including articles 20 and 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization.

Source: Wikipedia

Freedom of expression

Freedom of expression is the right to express one’s ideas and opinions freely through speech, writing, and other forms of communication. It is a broad concept that includes freedom of speech, of the press, of association, of assembly and petition, all of which are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Freedom of expression can be limited primarily through judicial rulings, when, for example, it is deemed to be hate speech or when expression intentionally causes harm to another’s character or reputation through false or misleading statements. Changing social norms can also influence one’s willingness to freely express ideas and opinions.

Fugitive emissions

Fugitive emissions are emissions of gases or vapors from pressurized equipment due to leaks and other unintended or irregular releases of gases, mostly from industrial activities. Fugitive emissions contribute to air pollution and climate change, depending on the type of gas or vapor.

Source: Wikipedia

Full-time equivalent (FTE)

A means to measure and compare work effort, based on the number of hours of work. 1.0 FTE is measured as an individual working on a full-time basis, where full-time typically is calculated as forty hours per week. The FTE for those who work less than full time is expressed as a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of hours per week, and the denominator is full time effort.

Genuine progress indicator

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is a measure of economic progress that takes into account whether a countries economic growth has resulted in the improvement of well being and quality of life for the people living there.

The more commonly known and widely used economic progress indicator is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which only takes into account the total value of goods and services exchanged, and does not distinguish between less obvious costs of economic development which can have negative impacts on society.

The GPI provides a more exact way of measuring social, economic, and environmental assets thus providing a more informed measurement of true economic growth.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

A recent (1990s) indicator developed to correct acknowledged deficiencies in the GDP that don’t account for all costs or benefits of human activities. It is an attempt to provide a more accurate (quality of life) indicator for people than the GDP does for governments and corporations. For example, natural catastrophes and industrial accidents contribute to growth of the GDP (due to increases in labor and capital expenditure) without accounting for temporary or permanent losses in the environment’s ability to generate acceptable water, air, soil, or produce. Aside from deficiencies in calculating costs or benefits of environmental pollution, there are often social deficiencies (such as costs associated with crime, family breakdown, and social unrest) that have a harmful effect on human “wealth” and “progress” even while they contribute to a rising GDP.

As an example, while the GDP or the USA has risen to almost three times what it was in the 1950s, the calculated GPI is only half of what it was in the 1950s.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Glare

Glare is direct or reflected sunlight or artificial light that impairs one’s ability to see. It occurs when the angle between the light source and eye causes light to diffuse over a person’s eyes, rather than or in addition to being directed to the area the person is trying to see. Disablity glare makes it impossible to see the area being observed; discomfort glare makes it difficult to varying degrees to see the area.

Global warming

A term for the gradual, average increase of temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Local temperatures around the world, however, may increase or decrease in varying amounts. Global warming is accelerated by greenhouse gases being expelled into the atmosphere through both natural and human activities. The latter have been identified by a majority of the scientific community as a primary cause of the overall warming trend since the Industrial Revolution.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Global warming potential (GWP)

Global-warming potential (GWP) is a relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere. It compares the amount of heat trapped by a certain mass of the gas in question to the amount of heat trapped by a similar mass of carbon dioxide. A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval, commonly 20, 100 or 500 years.

Source: Wikipedia

Globalization

The process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture.

Source: Wikipedia

Goals

High-level, clear statements that describe what the organization seeks to achieve in a particular area by a particular point in time.

Goals vs. targets

Goals are high level statements that set the direction the organization is headed in. Targets are quantifiable statements that define goal achievement (final target); they are also used to quantify goal progress (interim targets). Here are examples of each:

Goal

• Achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.

Targets

• Reduce energy consumption by 20% (compared to base year 2007) by 2025
• Convert 50% of energy production sources to renewable by 2025
• Starting in 2025 buy RECs to offset any carbon generating energy consumption

Interim Targets

• Reduce energy consumption by 5% in the first year
• Install solar panels on all owned facilities to convert 10% of energy production sources within first five years

Goldilocks effect

The Goldilocks principle states that something must fall within certain margins, as opposed to reaching extremes. When the effects of the principle are observed, it is known as the Goldilocks effect.

Source: Wikipedia

Governance

Governance refers to the processes, practices, and relationships by which an organization is controlled and directed. It is the manner in which rights and responsibilities are distributed for making decisions and building a company’s culture. An organization’s means of governance include values, policies, and accountability and transparency requirements.

Grassroots

A metaphor to describe a movement or change that begins among people with shared interests that they can define and act upon collectively. As a noun it refers to ordinary people in a community or organization. As an adjective it refers to the origin or basis of a principle, idea, or movement.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Green

A common metaphor referring to environmental association based on the shared secondary color of many plants. It is often used to associate products, organizations, political parties, or policies with environmentally sensitivity.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Green building

A comprehensive process of design and construction that employs techniques to minimize adverse environmental impacts and reduce the energy consumption of a building, while contributing to the health and productivity of its occupants. A common metric for green buildings is the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. See www.usgbc.org

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Green chemistry

Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, focuses on the design of products and processes that reduce the use or creation of hazardous substances. It also aims to develop technological approaches that prevent pollution and reduce consumption of nonrenewable resources.

Green cleaning

A system of cleaning that specifies products, equipment, and behaviors to reduce or eliminate negative impacts on human health and the environment.

Green design

The design of products, services, buildings, or experiences that are sensitive to environmental issues and achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in terms of energy and materials.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Green roofs

Green roofs are roofs that are partially or fully covered with a variety of plant species and living vegetation. They are installed for a variety of purposes: to absorb, filter, and retain rainwater; provide insulation; create wildlife habitat; and produce an aesthetically pleasing landscape.

Green tech

Alternatively referred to as environmental technology or cleantech, this term is used to describe a collection of modern technologies and approaches that maximize human, environmental, and economic benefits. Specifically, green tech utilizes advancements of modern environmental science, biotechnology and engineering to provide products and services in a way that least degrades natural resources, and in some cases, regenerates them. Common examples of green tech include: materials recycling; utilization of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources for power; biological water treatment and grey water recycling; biofuels; and energy-conserving electronics.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Green-collar jobs

Jobs created by investments and sustainable practices. Many skilled and unskilled jobs traditionally referred to as “blue-collar” jobs may be created and supported through the expansion of incentives and demand for sustainable building and installation of sustainable systems (such as solar panels, “green” remodeling, and gray-water systems) in the residential, commercial, and government markets. These “green-collar” jobs may employ those who are often left-out of the tech boom cycles or do not have the skills, experience, or education to work in “white-collar” jobs. Championed by Van Jones, the founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California, “green-collar” jobs fill a variety of community and individual needs with rewarding, well-paying work that is sustainable and local (and aren’t easily outsourced overseas).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Greenguard

Greenguard is a certification program administered by the Greenguard Environmental Institute to enable manufacturers to label – and buyers to identify –products and materials that have low chemical emissions. All Greenguard-certified products are listed in the UL SPOT Sustainable Product Database.

Greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet’s atmosphere warms the planet’s surface to a temperature above what it would be in the absence of its atmosphere. If a planet’s atmosphere contains radiatively active gases (i.e., greenhouse gases) the atmosphere radiates energy in all directions. Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface, warming it.

Source: Wikipedia

Greenhouse Gas Protocol

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, developed by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), sets the global standard for how to measure, manage, and report greenhouse gas emissions.

Hundreds of companies and organizations around the world are using GHG Protocol standards and tools to manage their emissions and become more efficient, resilient, and prosperous organizations.

Source: Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Greenhouse gases (GHGs)

Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation and trapping heat in the atmosphere. Some GHGs such as carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere through both natural processes and human activities. Others are created and emitted solely through human activities.

The gases considered for calculating a carbon footprint are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydroflurocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

Greenwashing

A term merging the concepts of “green” (environmentally sound) and “whitewashing” (to conceal or gloss over wrongdoing). Greenwashing is any form of marketing or public relations that links a corporate, political, religious or nonprofit organization to a positive association with environmental issues for an unsustainable product, service, or practice. In some cases, an organization may truly offer a “green” product, service or practice. However, through marketing and public relations, one is wrongly led to believe this “green” value system is ubiquitous throughout the entire organization.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

A measure of economic production (and often standard of living) of a country. GDP calculates a nations total economic output of products and services. The GDP is problematic as a sustainability indicator because it considers the amount of money spent in a country in isolation, assuming more money spent means a healthier economy. Yet the activities generated by spending that money may or may not be contributing to harmful environmental or social factors which, in the long term, could be detrimental to the society.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Gross national happiness (GNH)

Coined by Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, Gross National Happiness (GNH) measures actual well-being of a country’s citizens rather than consumption, accounting more fully for social, human and environmental realities. Its premise is that basic happiness can be measured since it pertains to quality of nutrition, housing, education, health care and community life. By contrast, the conventional concept of Gross National Product (GNP) measures only the sum total of material production and exchange in any country.

Promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development Preservation and promotion of cultural values Conservation of the natural environment Establishment of good governance.

At the GNH International Conference in 2004, participants adopted a declaration that said that the facilitation of GNH should be accompanied by “the development of indicators that address human physical and emotional well-being. They must be capable of use for self-evaluation, so that individuals and groups may gauge their progress in the attainment of happiness. In addition, indicators should facilitate full accountability, good governance, and socially constructive business practices, both in day-to-day life and in long-range policies and activities.” http://www.grossinternationalhappiness.org

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Gross National Product (GNP)

The total value of newly produced products and services produced in a year by a country’s companies (including profits from capital held abroad). Transactions in existing goods, such as second-hand cars, are not included, as these do not involve the production of new goods.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Groundwater

Water found beneath the Earth’s surface in underground aquifers and reservoirs. The water seeps through the ground into tiny spaces (pores) of soil and fractures of rock formations. Groundwater is less accessible, but also less polluted, than surface water.

Growth

In macroeconomic terms, the increase in the value of goods and services produced by an economy or activity measured as the rate of increase in real GDP after adjusting for inflation. New definitions of growth in terms of sustainable management seek to define it not by the growth in the value of goods and services, but is expanded to include growth in overall benefits to individuals, organizations, and societies together.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Halide lamp

Metal-halide lamps are a type of lamp used for general lighting purposes both indoors and outdoors, as well as automotive and specialty applications. They are often used for indoor growing applications or in athletic facilities.

Hazardous waste

Hazardous waste is waste that is dangerous or potentially harmful to public health or the environment. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, gases, or sludges, and are ignitable, reactive, corrosive, or toxic. They can be discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides, the by-products of manufacturing processes, or contaminated biological materials. Many of these wastes are subject to regulations affecting their handling, transfer, and disposal.

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

Heat island

A heat island is an urban or industrial area where hot air layers form because of the greater absorption, retention, and generation of heat by the area’s buildings, pavements, and human activities. The result is higher average temperatures, and more trapped air pollution and emissions, than in the area’s rural surroundings.

Holistic Management

A term originally used to describe an approach to managing land resources that builds biodiversity, improves production, generates financial strength, and improves the quality of life for those who use it. Holistic Management addresses the farm, family, and community as an integrated whole, instead of as separate parts. Coined by Allan Savory, a biologist in Zimbabwe, the method can be applied to organizations, businesses, communities, or individuals in need of making decisions.

In taking a whole-systems approach, decision makers need to first identify all of the stakeholders in relation to the decision, including both people and nature. Once the stakeholders are identified, a goal or statement of purpose is defined with the consideration of individual and group needs as well as nature’s current and future needs. The group then tests all future decisions and actions by considering whether or not they will help reach this goal.

See www.holisticmanagement.org

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Human rights

Human rights are those fundamental rights, freedoms, and standards of treatment to which all people are entitled. They are listed in the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They include such basic, recognized rights as life, liberty, security of person and freedom from slavery and torture. They also include more modern-day rights, such as the rights to privacy, freedom of movement, opinion and expression, decent working conditions, and education.

Hybrid vehicle

A hybrid vehicle is powered by multiple fuel sources, typically gasoline and an electric plug-in or self-charging battery. Hybrid vehicles reduce the fossil fuels burned per mile, but do not eliminate environmental impacts. Depending on the sourcing of the electricity used to power a plug-in battery, there may be indirect emissions associated with a vehicle. Self-charging batteries have environmental issues associated with lithium ion or nickel metal hydride composition and disposal.

Hydrologic cycle

See Water cycle.

Indoor air pollutants

Indoor air pollutants are airborne contaminants inside buildings including the off-gases from furniture, carpets, and wall coverings, dust, mold, and other harmful particulates.

Industrial ecology

A field of study and practice that focuses on how industry can be developed or restructured to reduce environmental burdens throughout the product life cycle (extraction, production, use, and disposal) and encompasses a variety of related areas of research and practice, including:Material and energy flow studies (“industrial metabolism”)

Dematerialization and decarbonizationTechnological change and the environment Llife-cycle planning, design and assessment Design for the environment (“eco-design”) Extended producer responsibility (“product stewardship”) Eco-industrial parks (“industrial symbiosis”)Product-oriented environmental policy Eco-efficiency

In applying this perspective, companies seek to shift industrial processes from open loop systems that produce waste materials to closed loop systems where wastes become inputs for new processes. An example of this term in action is the design of industrial processes with closed loop systems in which the wastes of one industry are the raw materials for another.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Information economy

A vague term referring to a economy whose chief characteristic is the trade or value of information instead of materials (such as gold, iron, or fish) or activities (such as manufacturing or agriculture) to create economic growth and benefits. There is no standard definition of information nor any measures of its value. Thus, it’s difficult to account for or value its effects on an economy. Non-physical products and services (such as software and telecommunications) are often considered examples of information-based products. The Information Economy, also called the knowledge economy, is used to differentiate economies driven heavily on knowledge work instead of manufacturing, agriculture, or services. However, it’s unlikely that today’s version of a service economy could exist without vital information exchange and networks characteristic of an information economy.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Innovation capacity

Innovation capacity refers to an organization’s ability to create and continue innovation of profitable business models, products, and services. It is a function of an organization’s focus on strategic planning, industry and market knowledge, and ability to foster and capture creativity and cross-pollinated ideas.

Inorganic waste

Inorganic waste consists of natural or synthetic materials or products that come from non-living matter and contain no organically produced carbon. Pure water, air, rocks, minerals, and metals are a few examples of inorganic matter.

Institutional investor

An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include banks, insurance companies, pensions, hedge funds, REITs, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies which invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term. Activist institutional investors may also influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments.

Intangible assets

Intangible assets are non-monetary assets that have no physical substance. They are resources that a business controls and expects will deliver economic benefits. Traditional examples include brand equity, intellectual property, trade secrets, and goodwill. Emerging concepts and circumstances include refined ways of thinking about goodwill such as reputation (e.g., based on operations and supply chain management), social license to operate (e.g., based on transparency, trust, and accountability), and ability to innovate (e.g., based on collaboration and business partnerships). See also definitions of social capital, natural capital, and economic capital.

Integrated bottom line

A process, described by Theo Ferguson, for integrating financial, environmental, and social costs and benefits into a unified measure of business activity. Conventional objectives of profitability, competitive advantage, efficiency, and economic growth are judged successful by their compatibility with biodiversity, ecological sustainability, equity, community support, and maximized well-being for a variety of stakeholders. An Integrated bottom line differs from a Triple bottom line in that all measures are combined into one balance sheet and income statement (instead of separated in three, different ones). For example, short-term, sustainable resource use is encouraged to maximize efficiency because it is factored into accounts payable. Ecosystem restoration is entered as long-term debt. Market forces are tempered by distribution equity and social forces are elevated through premiums placed on human capital. Business plans can be redesigned so that qualitative outcomes have equal or greater measure to quantitative goals.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Integrated reporting

The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) defines the integrated report as “a concise communication about how an organization’s strategy governance, performance and prospects, in the context of its external environment, lead to the creation of value in the short, medium and long term.” Its goal is to give a holistic view of a company, based on performance, business model, and strategy in the context of a company’s material social and environmental issues.

Intensity metric

An intensity metric expresses an organization’s operational performance for a specific factor (e.g., electricity used) correlates to performance for another factor (e.g., a unit of production) during a defined period of time (e.g., one year).

Intermodal transportation

Intermodal transportation is the practice of using multiple modes of transportation to deliver goods.

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

The Discount Rate at which the present value of future cash flow is zero. Arrived at through trial and error this is essentially the return a company receives on investment in itself.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Internal stakeholder

Individuals who engage in economic transactions with the business (stockholders, customers, suppliers, creditors, employees)

Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is a drive that comes from within an individual to perform a particular task in anticipation of gaining personal enjoyment and satisfaction from the activity itself.

Journey

A journey is the act of traveling from one place to another. In sustainability, the journey is comprised of all the sustainability projects and other activities an organization does each year as its program progresses.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

A quantitative or qualitative unit of measure to show how well a company is making progress towards goals. KPIs are used to assess the current state relative to the conditions that must exist for success. KPIs can also be thresholds for measuring the continued maintenance of a desired state or level once it has been achieved.

Key purchasing categories

Key purchasing categories are categories of products or services that (1) account for the majority or a stated percentage of annual spending, (2) are essential to core operations, or (3) have negative environmental and/or social impacts associated with them that pose a significant risk to an organization.

Key supplier

Key suppliers are those supply chain partners who are critically important to a company’s operations. They are the suppliers a company cannot easily do without or replace. They include vendors who:

• supply the company’s key purchasing categories,
• provide materials, products, and services that are essential to the operation of the company, and/or
• help the company manage significant risks or achieve strategic goals.

Keystone species

A species so critical to an ecosystem that its removal could potentially destroy the entire system. A good example of this are Blue Jays, which plant acorns that give rise to oak forests. Without Blue Jays, oak forests are not naturally replenished and without the forests, all other species in the ecosystem cannot survive. It is important to consider keystone species when making any decisions that could affect the natural environment. A small impact on keystone species could cause major disruption for the whole ecosystem.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty, which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. It is based on the premise that (a) global warming exists and (b) man-made CO2 emissions have caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 Parties to the Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol implemented the objective of the UNFCCC to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to “a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” (Art. 2). The Protocol is based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities: it puts the obligation to reduce current emissions on developed countries on the basis that they are historically responsible for the current levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Source: Wikipedia

Land use

Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. It also has been defined as “the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover type to produce, change or maintain it.”

Source: Wikipedia

Leadership

Effective leadership establishes a clear vision and strategy for the organization, anticipates and is prepared to manage shifts and crises, inspires creative thinking, problem solving, and productivity, and models desired ethics, conduct, and behavioral norms.

Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)

LEED is a set of rating systems for the sustainable design, construction, operation, and maintenance of commercial buildings, homes, and neighborhoods. There are four levels of building certification, Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Certified. The US Green Building Council (USGBC) developed LEED. The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) manages accreditation of individuals and certification of buildings under the LEED programs.

Source: Wikipedia

Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacturing or lean production, often simply “lean”, is a systematic method for the elimination of waste (“Muda”) within a manufacturing system. Lean also takes into account waste created through overburden (“Muri”) and waste created through unevenness in work loads (“Mura”). Working from the perspective of the client who consumes a product or service, “value” is any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for. Essentially, lean is centered on making obvious what adds value by reducing everything else.

Source: Wikipedia

Leverage points

Leverage points are places in a complex system (a corporation, an economy, an ecosystem) where a small amount of change in one thing has the ability to produce big changes in other parts of the system. The concept of leverage points for systems change was popularized by Donella Meadows in her seminal article Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. Examples of leverage points include (in increasing order of effectiveness):

1. Constants, parameters, numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards)
2. Regulating negative feedback loops
3. Driving positive feedback loops
4. Material flows and nodes of material intersection
5. Information flows
6. The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints)
7. The distribution of power over the rules of the system
8. The goals of the system
9. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, power structure, rules, its culture — arises

Life cycle accounting

See life cycle costing.

Life cycle assessment (LCA)

The collection and examination of the overall impacts of a product or service from materials sourcing to production to distribution to disposal. LCA focusses on the energy inputs and outputs, materials used to guage social, economic, and environmental impacts of the product or service. An LCA is also being developed for social and socio-economic production and consumption impacts on workers, local communities, consumers, society and all other value chain actors.

Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability (LOHAS)

Describes an estimated $209 billion U.S. marketplace for goods and services focused on health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living. The consumers attracted to this market represent a sizable group in this country. Approximately 19% percent of the adults in the U.S., or 41 million people, are currently considered LOHAS Consumers. This is based on surveys of the U.S. adult population estimated at 215 million. Research shows that one in four adult Americans is part of this group.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Lighting Audit

A lighting audit is a subset of an energy audit. It is an inspection, survey and analysis of lighting system and controls, which seeks to uncover opportunities for energy conservation or a reduction in the amount of energy required for the building’s lighting.

Lighting sensor types

There are numerous types of lighting sensors. Some control lights based on motion. Infra-red sensors react to warm objects, such as body temperature. Ultrasonic sensors activate by sound. Some sensors dim or shut off lighting when there is adequate daylight for lighting needs.

Limits to Growth

The idea that there are natural thresholds that cannot be exceeded without risking the health of the entire system. Limits are essential to the idea that natural capital must be conserved. The concept is also at the heart of several prominent economic theories and many people’s inability to regard change or conservation as necessary since they don’t recognize that limits exist on natural capital. Limits to Growth was a 1972 book by Donella and Dennis Meadows and Jørgen Randers, modeling the consequences of a rapidly growing world population. It prompted many changes in the 1970s with regard to resource use in order to avoid the projections in the book. The most recent updated version was published in June 2004 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company under the name Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Linear equilibrium systems

Linear equilibrium systems emphasize clear and predictable models for changes in systems. In linear equilibrium systems, shocks or inputs eventually result in the system returning to equilibrium, like a drop of water in a bucket. Such systems are closed, stable, and predictable. By contrast, open systems (e.g., ecosystems, economies) never stay in equilibrium. In non-linear, non-equilibrium systems, tiny alterations in inputs can create dramatic changes.

Linked prosperity

Linked prosperity is a concept that a business will prosper as the community around it prospers. Greater mutual benefit results when there is a reciprocal relationship between consumer and producer that is based on cooperation and caring.

Living wage

A living wage is a wage that is high enough to support basic needs. The wage is calculated based on a number of factors, including location, taking into account geographic variations in the cost of living, family size, and the number of working adults in the family.

Location fit

Location fit refers to how a particular land use is compatible or incompatible with the existing uses or conditions on the land as well as adjacent or surrounding properties. An appropriate location fit results in harmonization with the natural landscape and the surrounding community, avoiding negative impacts.

Low carbon economy

An economy based on low carbon power sources that therefore has a minimal output of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Source: Wikipedia

Market segmentation

A business process focused on defining market segments on the basis of customer demographic or psychographic attributes (such as age, location, culture, etc.). Segmentation is best when it uses the same understandings gained from market and user research used in Environmental Modeling and Positioning. Distinct market segments identify customers who require different products and services (either in configuration, features, pricing, messaging, or support).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Materiality
For purposes of reporting under various sustainability reporting frameworks, materiality is the concept of identifying, prioritizing, and reporting on sustainability-related issues and impacts that are most relevant and of greatest importance to the stakeholder audience of the report. Isolating issues in this way allows an organization to focus its resources and the attention of its stakeholder audience on the most significant sustainability issues for the particular organization. The determination of what is material will depend on the audience and the framework under which information is being reported.

Materiality assessment
The process of having management and various stakeholders identify and prioritize an organization’s most significant sustainability issues. The process clearly identifies convergence and divergence on issues between stakeholders and management. The convergence issues typically form the core focus of an organization’s sustainability strategy.

Materials management
A coordinated approach for planning, organizing, and controlling activities concerned with the flow of materials into and out of an organization. Materials management is focused on activities necessary for the purchase, use and disposal of materials in industrial production. More recently this focus has shifted to a life cycle perspective.

Also see Sustainable materials management.

Metallic minerals
Metallic minerals are non-renewable, inorganic substances that contain metallic elements. Examples include iron, copper and gold. Metallic minerals are fundamental ingredients in many of today’s consumer products, including cell phones, computers, paint, and even toothpaste.

Microfinance
The field within financial services in which companies lend capital and provide financial services to low-income groups or individuals who do not typically have access to these services, in order to provide them with opportunity to become financially self-sufficient.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Milestone

An agreed upon point in time at which a KPI is used to assess progress or by which a target is achieved. Milestones allow a company to periodically evaluate progress and make adjustments as needed.

Millennium ecosystem assessment

A UN-funded study of the state of ecosystem services around the world. It is the most extensive and accurate study of its kind. Launched in 2001 and completed in March 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports on habitat status, fishing, coral reefs, forests, water use, atmospheric carbon and temperature, weather, land use, and population. More than 1300 scientists from 95 countries synthesized research, data, and models from a variety of sources to develop a set of 15 report as well as scenarios. Accelerating changes humans have made to the ecosystem are creating high risks for people and businesses as well as some opportunities. www.millenniumassessment.org

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Mission Related Investing

The investment of a foundation’s endowment assets in opportunities that align with its program goals. Some foundations have common under criticism for endowment investments in companies who are seen to cause the very problems their programs seek to remedy.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Mobile source air pollution

Mobile source air pollution includes pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, and other engines and equipment that can be moved from one location to another. Pollutants include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide (a GHG), nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and health-damaging air toxics. Many of these pollutants contribute to environmental degradation (e.g., smog and ozone) and have negative effects on human health (e.g., cancers and respiratory diseases).

Source: Wikipedia

Monstrous hybrid

A term coined by Michael Braungart and William McDonough for a product, component, or material that combines both technical and organic nutrients (such as recyclable paper and poly-vinyl-chloride) in a way that cannot be easily separated, thereby rendering it unable to be recycled or reused be either system. Most monstrous hybrids can only be thrown out and contribute to the waste stream and cannot be reused.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty to phase out the production of various substances (primarily used as refrigerants) that cause depletion the Earth’s protective ozone layer, particularly over Antarctica. Agreed to in August 1987, and made effective on August 26,1989, it has undergone numerous revisions.

Muda

A Japanese word for waste especially through poorly organized systems. Organizations seeking economic, manufacturing, and human efficiency seek to design and/or replace systems to eliminate muda.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere.

Formed in 1970.

Source: Wikipedia

Natural capital

From a planetary perspective, this is the stock of natural resources that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods and services into the future. For business organizations, natural capital is a valuation concept that measures the organization’s use of natural resources and the affect of that use on the availability of those resources into the future. Environmental destruction or degradation decreases an organization’s natural capital, while restoration, substitution, or regenerative activities increase it.

Natural resources

Natural resources are things that exist in nature that have value because they are necessary or useful to humans.They can include both renewable and non-renewable resources.

Negawatt

The saving of a megawatt of power by reducing consumption or increasing efficiency.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Noise pollution

Noise pollution or noise disturbance is the disturbing or excessive noise that may harm the activity or balance of human or animal life. The source of most outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines and transportation systems, motor vehicles, aircraft, and trains. Studies have shown that there are direct links between noise and health. Problems related to noise include stress related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity. Noise pollution adversely affects the lives of millions of people.

Source: Wikipedia

Non-governmental organization (NGO)

A non-profit group or organization that is run neither by business or government created to realize particular social or economic pursuits, through research, activism, training, promotion, advocacy, lobbying, or community service.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Non-metallic minerals

Non-metallic minerals are non-renewable, inorganic substances that do not contain any metallic elements. Examples include stone, clay, sand, salt, marble, natural gem stones, and asphalt. Non-metallic minerals are processed and transformed primarily into building materials, such as cement, glass, lime, bricks, and tiles.

Non-renewable

Any material (including a source of energy) that cannot be replenished in full, at the same quality, within the period of time during which it will be used up.

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers that can be melt-processed into fibers, films or shapes. Nylon polymers have found significant commercial applications in fibers (apparel, flooring and rubber reinforcement), in shapes (molded parts for cars, electrical equipment, etc.), and in films (mostly for food packaging).

Source: Wikipedia

Off-gassing

Off-gassing (sometimes called out-gassing) is when a substance releases chemicals in gaseous form under normal conditions of temperature and pressure. Many chemicals released during the off-gassing process are potentially harmful to human health when inhaled or absorbed through the skin and mucus membranes. Examples of off-gassing substances are paints, adhesives, certain fabrics, and many plastics, fire retardants, and cleaning chemicals. Many of these are volatile organic compounds, some of which are potentially hazardous, particularly in enclosed spaces.

Open office space

A type of office layout in which large, open rooms are utilized in favor of smaller spaces, such as enclosed offices.

Open-loop recycling

The conversion of material from one or more products into a new product, involving a change in the inherent properties of the material itself (often a degradation in quality). For example, recycling plastic bottles into plastic drainage pipes. Often called downcycling or reprocessing.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Opportunity cost

The benefit that could have been received by taking an alternative course of action. Opportunity Cost is used to determine if a business investment is worthwhile in light of other opportunities. It should be a component in projecting cost flows.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Organic

Organic is a term used to describe food (both plant and animal) and other agricultural products (such as cotton) that are produced without pesticides, hormones, synthetic fertilizers and other toxic materials in cultivation. In some countries, organic has a legal definition. For example, in the USA, it is defined in the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 and refers to food and products that are at least 95% free of toxic and synthetic materials as described in the USDA National Organic Program.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Organic waste

Organic waste consists of natural or synthetic materials or products that come from living (or once-living) plants and animals and is biodegradable. It can be repurposed through gas recovery, composting, anaerobic digestion, land application, and other technologies that reduce greenhouse gases, create soil amendments or energy, and reduce reliance on landfills.

Organizational change

The ability for an organization, its culture, and its procedures to grow in a positive way that leads to great success and more effective performance (both internally and externally).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Organizational values

Organizational values, whether or not written down, are the commonly-held, core beliefs upon which an organization guides and informs its perspectives and decisions. They express the belief system on which interactions within the organization and with customers, partners, and other stakeholders are based. Organizational values are actual, not aspirational; they can be demonstrated by real life examples.

Outcome or output metrics

An outcome or output metric expresses the results of an activity, plan, process, or program. It is often compared with the intended or projected result. Metrics that include comparison measure the organization’s ability to predict results and can provide information on how to improve that ability.

Overconsumption

The act of consuming something in excess of its ability to be renewed.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Overharvest

The act of removing more than the sustainable amount of a resource that would insure its renewal for future generations. Typically related to fishing practices, the term can be applied to timber or the harvest of any natural resource.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Overshoot

The amount that any value exceeds its intended measure. In sustainability terms, overshoot is often the amount a variable (such as a measure of environmental impact) exceeds what is intended or thought to be healthy or acceptable. Overshoots can be positive but are usually used to convey negative impacts of human or business activity. Alternatively, The point where human consumption and waste production exceed nature’s capacity to create new resources and absorb waste.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Oversight of sustainability

Oversight of sustainability activities by a board of directors means that the company has established operational, financial, risk-management, and reporting processes which ensure that the board receives the information it needs to effectively address significant environmental, social, and governance issues.

Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement is an international agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) related to reduction of GHG emissions, and climate change adaptation and finance. Created at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris in 2015, the agreement went into effect on November 4, 2016. Signatory nations pledged to measure, monitor, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Patient capital

Investment strategies that provide social and environmental returns in addition to financial returns with an emphasis on returns over the long-term. While a longer investment horizon and/or a smaller financial return may be inherent in individual patient capital investments, neither of these conditions are required of patient capital investments.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Pay equity

Pay equity involves paying employees fairly and consistently, without discrimination on the basis of gender, race, or other protected categories. It encompasses the full range of payments and benefits, including basic pay, non-salary payments, bonuses, and allowances.

Pay scales

Pay scales are lists of jobs, within a company or across an industry, with corresponding wage ranges for each job type. Pay scales can take into account education, experience, and other factors. A pay or job grade is assigned to each job. Each grade is assigned a salary range. An employee is then paid within the salary range for the applicable position grade. Employers use pay scales to create consistent pay structures and protect against favoritism.

Payback period

An accounting term indicating the time required to recoup an investment. It is expressed as a ratio of investment cost to savings or income (usually annually). For example, if a new high-efficiency boiler costs $10,000 to install and saves $2500 per year in fuel, the payback period is four years. Payback periods are critical to environmental and energy efficiency. Currently, conventions of short-term business thinking look at time periods less than common payback periods for alternative energy and other sustainability improvements. Until business people consider longer-term periods of time or new technologies reduce the payback period of “green” technologies, there will continue to be lackluster interest in many sustainable solutions.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Pay-for-Performance

Pay-for-Performance (PFP) refers to a compensation system that ties pay directly to achieving specific business goals and management objectives.

Permaculture

Permaculture is an ecological design system that employs an integrated systems approach to developing ecological human habitats, food production systems, and other material and non-material needs.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Personally identifiable information

Personally identifiable information (PII), or sensitive personal information (SPI), as used in information security and privacy laws, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.

Source: Wikipedia

Pilot project

A pilot project is a trial run, small-scale, short-term version of a project that helps an organization learn how a large-scale project might work in practice. It should be designed to help you catch and resolve potential problems. It is used to prove the feasibility of a full project without committing to full implementation.

Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)

Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is a four-stage management approach to implementing change. It is used in business to manage and ensure the quality of projects, products, and processes. The steps are:

Plan – establish goals, objectives, targets, and metrics Do – implement the plan and collect data Check – analyze the actual results compared to expected results Act – make adjustments or improvements as needed

The steps are repeated continuously, learning from mistakes and iterating towards greater knowledge and systems improvement. PDCA was popularized by Dr. W. Edward Deming. He updated the model to Plan-Do-Study-Act because he felt that “check” emphasized inspection over analysis.

Planetary boundary

A Planetary Boundary is a limit which defines the safe operating space for humanity with respect to the Earth system and its associated biophysical subsystems and processes.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Planning cycles

Planning cycles are a business practice for regularly coping with product and services life cycles. These life cycles follow a general pattern of growth, peak, slowdown, and bottom. Planning cycles involve the work of planning for new, evolved, or diversified products and services to come on line and ramp up during the slowdown and bottom stages for existing products and services life cycles. The objective of planning cycles is to maintain or grow a business despite – or because of – the fact that products and services evolve and fall out of market favor and new market needs emerge.

Point source air pollution

Point source air pollution is pollution emitted from a single, stationary source. These emissions are usually regulated through a government permitting process and subject to conditions and limitations.

Political contributions

Political contributions refers to any gift, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value, made for any political purpose, including contributions to or on behalf of an individual candidate for political office, a political party, or a politically active non-governmental organization.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is a plastic that can be transformed into fibers or resins. It is the most common plastic used in the polyester family of products. PET is spun into fiber for permanent-press fabrics or blow-molded into plastic beverage bottles.

Polymer

A polymer is a large molecule, or macromolecule, composed of many repeated subunits. Because of their broad range of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play an essential and ubiquitous role in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small molecules, known as monomers. Their consequently large molecular mass relative to small molecule compounds produces unique physical properties, including toughness, viscoelasticity, and a tendency to form glasses and semicrystalline structures rather than crystals.

Source: Wikipedia

Portfolio composition

Portfolio composition refers to the ratios or percentages that specific asset types and classes represent in a investment portfolio.

Potable water

Water that is safe to drink.

Precautionary principle
An approach to determining whether a given process or policy should be pursued or continued based on an analysis of the social, economic, or environmental risks associated with that activity. Not all risks are known when a new practice is introduced or a current one is re-examined, and the ethical approach in light of implied or expected (but not confirmed) negative impacts is to stop such practices as a precaution until more is known about the impacts. The Precautionary Principle has been used in many health and environment-related issues, such as food safety, industrial manufacturing, product recalls, and the approval or recall of pharmaceuticals.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Presenteeism

Working when suffering from an illness or health condition that reduces productivity.

Process energy

Process energy refers to the energy used or conserved by machinery and equipment operated for production processes in industrial, manufacturing, agricultural, and other commercial operations (excluding facility energy).

Process metrics

A process metric expresses an organization’s performance for a specific process (e.g., invoicing) or business function area (e.g., human resources) during a defined period of time (e.g., one year).

Process water

Process water is water that is used for commercial, agricultural, and industrial processes, including the production of manufactured products.

Productivity

The output created (products and services) created by use of energy, work, capital, materials, or resources. Often, traditional productivity does not measure use of external resources (such as natural resources like air or water) or adverse effects of internal resources (such as corporate culture or employee stamina) and does not calculate costs required to correct the degradation of these resources. Therefore, companies, economies, and societies can incur substantial deficits from economic activities when indications are that productivity is high or growing.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Products vs goods

The words “product” and “good” are often used interchangeably, but in fact, product has more specificity. Goods are the things we make out of materials. Products are goods that have a label and a brand or identity associated with a particular company. Wheat is a commodity that can be turned into bread, which is a good, and Whole Food’s Artisan Loaf is a bread product.

Professional development

Professional development is the means by which a workforce keeps up to date with and advance skills, technologies, training, and other characteristics and requirements for job performance and career advancement.

Profit

The positive residual value (if there is one) or the benefit or advantage that can be achieved by a particular action or activity. Profit is calculated by adding all revenues associated with that product, service, or activity, and subtracting all expenses associated with it. Often, traditional accounting, finance, and economic calculations of profits don’t include benefits such as brand value or losses such as environmental pollution or social unrest. As government regulations and social policies change, these costs may need to be included in order to offset the expenses associated with their correction.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Programmable thermostat

A programmable thermostat is a thermostat which is designed to adjust the temperature according to a series of programmed settings that take effect at different times of the day. Programmable thermostats may also be called setback thermostats or clock thermostats.

Source: Wikipedia

Public policy

Public policy is the set of laws or other actions (such as setting funding or enforcement priorities) by which a government defines or guides a determination of what is or is not in the best interest of its citizens. It is arrived at through a political process and reflects predominant positions, attitudes, or cultural and social norms at a given time.

Quick wins

A term used to refer to sustainability projects that are relatively easy to implement and have low or no cost. Low cost projects have a simple payback period of approximately three years or less and do not require a significant initial financial investment. No cost projects may require human resources, but those resources exist within the organization and can be allocated to the project without significant impact on other organizational needs.

Radical resource productivity

Obtaining the same or increased amount of utility or work from a product or process while using fewer resources, including energy, man-made materials, and natural resources such as air, water, or minerals. The Industrial Revolution sparked a radical increase in human productivity, which relied on a seemingly unlimited supply of natural resources. Similarly, a radical increase in resource productivity can save money, slow or reverse resource depletion, and reduce pollution caused by the inefficient use of resources.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Rain garden

A rain garden is a planted depression or a hole that allows rainwater runoff from impervious urban areas, like roofs, driveways, walkways, parking lots, and compacted lawn areas, the opportunity to be absorbed. This reduces rain runoff by allowing stormwater to soak into the ground (as opposed to flowing into storm drains and surface waters which causes erosion, water pollution, flooding, and diminished groundwater).

Source: Wikipedia

Reactive sustainability

Adopts only those sustainability practices required by law, regulation, or well-established social or business norms for compliance. Will not adopt best practices in sustainability until they become required or strong social or business norms. It’s a focus on what’s required.

Recycle

Recycling is the process of reclaiming materials from used products or materials from their manufacturing and using them in the manufacturing of new products. It is different from Reuse, where products are not destroyed and remanufactured but cleaned and repaired to be used again, also known as remanufacturing. Another strategy to use resources more efficiently includes reducing the use of materials needed for product and process manufacturing, also known as dematerialization.

Many products are now marked with a variety of recycling symbols meant to help consumers and waste managers in separating recycled products and materials. Not all materials and products can be recycled, however. Those designed for disassembly or made from one material are the easiest. Even when used materials and products are recycled, often there is no economically viable market for these materials and they are either disposed of with other waste or stored in warehouses for future uses.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Reduce

One of the most sustainable strategies is simply to reduce the amount of energy and materials we use and, thus, are required to be manufactured. This reduction has an exponential effect as it further reduces packaging, recycling, transportation, cleaning, disposal, and a host of other costs.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Refrigerant

A refrigerant is a substance, typically a fluid, that is used in heat pump or refrigeration cycles. Typically, fluorocarbons are the most common refrigerants, though ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and propane can be used as well.

Renewable

Any material (including a source of energy) that can be replenished in full without loss or degradation in quality within a period of time that avoids using it up before it can be replenished.

Reporting assurance

An independent, third party review of the processes used to generate the information contained a report, resulting in an objective, written statement supporting the integrity of that information. A negative finding would result in either no assurance or a qualified statement.

Reputational capital

Reputational capital is part of an organization’s social capital. It is a qualitative measure a company’s intangible assets such as ethics, integrity, and trustworthiness.

Residual risk

Residual risk is the risk that remains after taking into consideration how mitigation or action plan activities that are already in place reduce the inherent or overall threat a risk poses.

Resilience

Resilience in a business context is an organization’s ability to recognize, quickly respond to, and recover from disruptions or rapid changes and resulting risks. Resilience includes the capacity to identify the hidden opportunities in risk events to make advances, realize competitive advantage, or identify solutions that produce new revenue.

Restricted Substance List (RSL)

A list of ingredients that is used to manage materials and chemicals of concern in products and supply chains. Items on this list may include ingredients that are being regulated by governments or those of concern to customers. The list can be used to avoid risk and align with sustainability commitments.

Return on investment (ROI)

The benefit to the investor resulting from an investment of some resource. A high ROI means the investment gains compare favorably to investment cost. As a performance measure, ROI is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments.

Reuse

Often, the most sustainable option is to reuse materials and objects already manufactured, either for their original or new purposes, rather than recycle them into other products. This decreases further energy and materials use in recreating them into a new form.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Reverse logistics

The process of collecting used products and materials from customers to be reused, recycled, or upcycled into other products. This process treats these materials as valuable industrial nutrients instead of disposed of as trash. This is the complement to the traditional supply chain and distribution system used to produce and deliver products to customers.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Risk appetite

Risk appetite is high-level articulation of the type and amount of risk an organization is willing to take. For example, a company might state that it has no appetite for risks that could result in a significant loss of revenue base.

Risk tolerance

Risk tolerance is similar to risk appetite, though more specific. For example, a company might state that its tolerance for loss of revenue base (i.e., loss that it would not consider significant) is capped at risks that could cause up to a 10% reduction of revenue from its top 10 customers.

Root cause

A root cause is the underlying source of an outcome, situation, or problem. Root cause analysis is an approach to look deeper into problems, discover why they are happening, and design solutions to prevent them from recurring in the future. By addressing the underlying root cause from which other issues arise, this analysis enables interventions that can resolve a string of interconnected issues. Think of it like gardening: if you just clip the plant at the surface it will remain alive and keep coming back again and again. The only way to prevent new growth is to remove the roots.

Safety Data Sheets (SDS)

Safety Data Sheets (SDS) are used to communicate the proper handling and disposal requirements for chemical products that pose hazards to humans and animals. Chemical manufacturers, distrubutors, and importers are required to provide SDSs under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. Business users are required to post SDSs so that employees are aware of product handling and disposal requirements.

Scenario planning

Scenario planning is a common technique used in government, academia, and businesses in a variety of industries to identify new opportunities. Scenario planning is a special kind of brainstorming that structures assumptions and a perspective of the future (the scenario) so that a group of people can imagine, in detail, how that future might affect society, markets, and company opportunities. Scenario planning is nothing more than structured fantasy so it can be misused as much as it can be helpful. Originally developed within the US Army and refined by Herman Kahn in the 1960s, Pierre Wack, a planner at Royal Dutch/Shell in the 1970s, refined the process even further and firmly established the practice within the company after the Oil Crisis in 1973. For more information, see the book, The Art of the Long View.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Scope 1 carbon emissions

Scope 1 carbon emissions include all greenhouse gas emissions that come from directly sources owned or controlled by an organization.

Scope 2 carbon emissions

Scope 2 carbon emissions include all indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur because of an organization’s consumption of purchased electricity, heat, or steam.

Scope 3 carbon emissions

Scope 3 emissions are all indirect upstream and downstream greenhouse gas emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in an organization’s value chain for its benefit (e.g., emissions associated with the production, distribution, use, and disposal of its products).

Second tier supplier

Tier two suppliers are companies that supplies materials or parts to a manufacturer (tier one supplier). A single company may be a tier one supplier to one company and a tier two supplier to another company, or may be a tier one supplier for one product and a tier two supplier for a different product line.

Self regulating system

A complex system that regulates it’s own performance by so that it never gets too far off-balance and can bring itself back into homeostasis.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Sensitivity Analysis

A procedure in budgeting that uses incremental adjustments to parameters (such as price and sales) to test the effects on growth or company performance. Sensitivity analysis can help companies determine which parameters have the most effect on revenues. Though useful, sensitivity analysis is sometimes criticized because it deals with only parameter of change at a time, which is rarely the case in real markets.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainability Management

Server rack

A server rack or cabinet is a frame or enclosure for mounting multiple equipment modules. A 19-inch rack is the industry standard.

Service ecology

A system of interactions and actors that, together, create a sustainable and successful service or experience. Service Ecologies often include several companies or organizations that specialize in delivering one part of the total service. These may or may not be distinct to the user of the service. Successful Service Ecologies must realistically allow each company or organization to create and realize value for their part in the service in order for the Ecology to be both successful (from a user perspective) and sustainable (from a system perspective).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Service economy

An economy which places increased value on delivery and receipt of services for economic benefit and growth than the acquisition and consumption of products and materials. This shift away from an economy of products can place greater emphasis on relationships and can promote resource productivity (if the service provider maintains responsibility for the means of providing that service).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Shared value

Shared value is a management strategy focused on companies creating measurable business value by identifying and addressing social problems that intersect with their business. The shared value framework creates new opportunities for companies, civil society organizations, and governments to leverage the power of market-based competition in addressing social problems. The concept was defined in the Harvard Business Review article “Creating Shared Value”.

Source: Shared Value Initiative

Shareholder activism

Shareholder activism is the process of dialogue between company executives and shareholders who file resolutions seeking change. Investor pressure on corporate executives often garners media attention, which adds even more pressure on corporations.

Shareholder activism, also known as shareholder advocacy, first gained momentum during the 1970s when religious investors formed a coalition (the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility) to advocate for socially responsible changes in corporate policies. When activism relates to sustainability, it serves to educate the public on often-ignored social, environmental, and governance issues and can lead companies to improve their behavior and become more sustainable.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Sin stocks

A sin stock is the ownership interest in a company that engages in activities or creates or sells products that are viewed as contributing to a social ill or sin. What activities or products meet this definition is in the eye of the beholder. Examples are alcohol, tobacco, gambling, firearms, human trafficking, and mercenaries.

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a set of techniques and tools for process improvement. Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of the output of a process by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, mainly empirical, statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization, who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has specific value targets, for example: reduce process cycle time, reduce pollution, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, and increase profits.

Source: Wikipedia

Slow money

A concept under development by Woody Tasch, Chairman of Investors’ Circle. Inspired by the mission of the Slow Food Movement, Tasch considers that “fast” money investments (such as venture capital) is expected to return a profit quickly but is rarely invested long enough to create sustainable ventures. This is especially true of early-stage companies in some industries (such as biotech, high tech, and food development) which often require longer time frames to generate competitive returns. Slow money is invested with an understanding of the natural dynamics of these businesses and investors set their expectations of financial return around these processes.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

SMART framework

The SMART framework is an acronym of criteria that are useful in guiding certain decisions. Sustrana uses the SMART framework in the context of setting goals and choosing metrics. In that context the SMART criteria are:

• Specific: clear and focused
• Measurable: quantifiable or qualitatively indicates progress; comparable
• Achievable: agreed upon and aligned with organizational goals
• Realistic: cost effective and within resource constraints
• Time-bound: completed within a specific timeframe

Smart grid

Smart grid technology enables suppliers & consumers to better monitor energy needs. Up until now, utility companies have had very little insight into the energy demands of their consumers and therefore they have not been prepared for peak energy consumption, which results in blackouts.

Smart grid is a two-way communication between the consumer & supplier providing “smarter” energy supply. In some cases, it allows utility companies to control appliances at consumers’ homes, and to empower consumers to control their electricity consumption. This could save energy, reduce costs and increase reliability.

It is envisioned to overlay the ordinary electrical grid with an information and net metering system that includes smart meters. This technology is being promoted as a way of addressing energy independence, climate change and emergency resilience issues.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Smart growth

Consciously-planned community growth that creates a higher quality of life for all stakeholders. Smart growth requires a collaboration of perspectives, disciplines, and stakeholders. These principles can also be applied to organizations in the pursuit of growth that creates a better organization for all involved. Smart growth principles include:

Directing development toward existing communities (vs. new developments) Preserving open space, farmland, natural beauty, critical environmental areas and historic and pre-historic resources Mixing uses for land and buildings Pursuing compact building design Offering a range of housing opportunities Creating walkable neighborhoods Creating a diversity of appealing neighborhoods with a strong sense of place Providing for a variety of transportation choices Considering short-term and long-term public health concerns Encouraging community and stakeholder collaboration

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Smart power strips

Smart power strips are a type of power strip that has energy saving features. These features include motion sensors, or sensors that can tell if an appliance is in “standby” mode. Smart power strips can be programmed to switch off based on the sensor readings.

SmartWay Transportation

SmartWay is a public-private initiative between the EPA and companies that seek to ship goods more efficiently by measuring, benchmarking, and streamlining freight supply chain operations.

Social capital

A business’s value derived from human assets, stakeholder relationships, business practices, reputation, and other intangibles associated with the way the organization engages with or treats people.

Social dialogue

Social dialogue (or social concertation) is the process whereby social partners (trade unions and employer organizations) negotiate, often in collaboration with the government, to influence the arrangement and development of work-related issues, labour market policies, social protection, taxation or other economic policies. These can be direct relations between the social partners themselves (“bipartite”) or relations between governmental authorities and the social partners (“tripartite”). Social dialogue can mean negotiation, consultation or simply an exchange of views between representatives of employers, workers and governments. It may consist of relations between labour and management, with or without direct government involvement. Social dialogue is a flexible tool that enables governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations to manage change and achieve economic and social goals.

Source: Wikipedia

Social impact bond

A Social Impact Bond is a financial instrument where private individuals invest in “public” or government programs, where a return on investment is made if certain metrics are achieved.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Social justice

Social justice is an interactive process, not an outcome, in which members of a community seek:

• fair (re)distribution of resources opportunities and responsibilities
• challenge the roots of oppression and injustice
• empower all people to exercise self-determination and realize their full potential
• build social solidarity and community capacity for collaborative action (School of Social Welfare, University of California, 2011).

It is based on the principle that all individuals, groups, and communities are equal and thus are entitled regardless of gender, race, wealth, sexuality or heritage to receive fair and just treatment.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Social license to operate

Refers to the level of acceptance or approval by society of an organization and its operations. The term was coined in the late 1990s by Canadian mining executive Jim Cooney. In the 1980s local communities started to pressure companies to integrate more sustainable practices into their operations. The change in corporate culture resulting from social pressure gained much attention and ultimately led to the idea that companies need to acquire “social permission” beyond meeting legal requirements in order to operate a business successfully.

Social Return of Investment (SROI)

The measure of an investment’s ability to produce social value in a community or broader society. An attempt to monetize social value in order to help investors assess potential investments based on returns outside of traditional financial measures.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Social sustainability

Social sustainability refers to how an organization treats and engages with the people connected to the organization. Efforts to promote employee and supplier diversity and equal opportunity show the organization values inclusiveness. Good governance and ethics practices show management’s commitment to living the organization’s stated values. Product responsibility and workforce development and wellness programs show concern for customers and employees. Two-way stakeholder engagement shows that an organization respects and at least hears the voice of those most relevant to the health of the organization. Community needs-based philanthropy reveals an organization’s sense of responsibility for the local community’s wellbeing.

Soil degradation

Soil degradation is the result of activities that damage the chemical and biological integrity of soil. It refers to the change in soil health status resulting in a diminished capacity of the ecosystem to provide goods and services for the benefit of humans, plants and animals.

Soil erosion

Soil erosion is one of the effects of soil degradation. It refers to the washing away of topsoil and nutrients, because the soil integrity can no longer hold them in place. Soil erosion is often the result of agricultural operations that degrade soil quality (e.g., for producing food and other natural resources).

Solar heat gain

The amount of heat from solar radiation that passes through a building envelope (primarily through glass) and adds heat to the interior of a building.

Solid waste

Solid waste is refers to most of the things we throw away at our residences, places of business, industry and community activities, and agricultural and mining operations. It’s garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material. Solid waste is often further classified as municipal (everyday trash) and industrial (non-hazardous waste from the production of goods and products).

Source: US Environmental Protection Agency

Spend analysis

A spend analysis is a systematic process for organizing and analyzing periodic purchasing data (spend) for an organization.

Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement is the process by which an organization involves people who may be affected by, or who can influence, its decisions. Companies engage their stakeholders in dialogue to find out what social and environmental issues matter most to them. They do this to improve decision-making and accountability. An underlying principle of stakeholder engagement is that stakeholders input is valuable and better informs the decision-making process. This differentiates stakeholder engagement from communications processes that seek to issue a message or sway groups to agree with a decision that is already made.

Stakeholders

Any party (internal or external to an organization) that can influence or be influenced by an organization’s activities. The degree of influence determines how key a party is to the organization.

Stakeholders are not necessarily directly involved with doing the organization’s work. For example, World Wildlife Federation works to protect wildlife. If an organization’s activities have a big enough impact on wildlife, World Wildlife Federation could become a stakeholder.

Standby power

Standby power, also called vampire power, phantom load, or leaking electricity, refers to the electric power consumed by electronic and electrical appliances while they are switched off (but are designed to draw some power) or in a standby mode.

Stormwater

Water that originates during precipitation events and snow/ice melt. Stormwater can soak into the soil (infiltrate), be held on the surface and evaporate, or runoff and end up in nearby streams, rivers, or other water bodies (surface water). In natural landscapes such as forests, the soil absorbs much of the stormwater and plants help hold stormwater close to where it falls. In developed environments, unmanaged stormwater can create two major issues: one related to the volume and timing of runoff water (flooding) and the other related to potential contaminants that the water is carrying (water pollution).

Source: Wikipedia

Strategic sustainability

Has a clear commitment to sustainability evidenced by goals/targets, opportunity identification, active investment of resources, longer-term planning, and a triple bottom line orientation. It’s a focus on long-term value.

Stress test

A stress test is a simulation technique used to predict performance if a particular scenario or crisis were to occur.

Sublimation

A chemical process in which a solid turns into a gas without going through a liquid stage.

Succession planning

Succession planning is the process of planning to replace business leaders when they leave a company, retire, or pass away. The most effective planning is a two-part effort. The first is to document the knowledge, skills, and experience required to perform key roles within an organization. This supports and facilitates a talent search, whether internal or external. The second aspect is to identify individuals within the organization who show promise for advancement and provide them with professional development, training, and experiences that will enable them to step into a key role, based on defined capabilities, if and when it becomes vacant.

Sunk costs

Used in business decision-making, costs which have already been incurred and which cannot be recovered to any significant degree and, thus, should be ignored.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Super-recyclables

Materials and products such as batteries, styrofoam, lightbulbs, ink toner, and electronics, which are able to be recycled, but require specialty recycling processes.

Supplier diversity

Supplier diversity is a business strategy to ensure that a company is purchasing its important materials, products, and services from as diverse a base of suppliers as possible to support economic development, promote competition, expand purchasing channels, and improve innovation capacity.

Supply chain

A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities involve the transformation of natural resources, raw materials, and components into a finished product that is delivered to the end customer. In sophisticated supply chain systems, used products may re-enter the supply chain at any point where residual value is recyclable. Supply chains link value chains.

Source: Wikipedia

Supply chain management (SCM)

The active management of the flow of goods, services, resources, and information during the creation and distribution of a product for sale to an end customer.

Supply chain partner

An entity that provides goods, materials and/or services directly to another entity. Also referred to as a Tier 1 supplier.

Surface water

Water found on the surface of the Earth such as in rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, and oceans.

Sustainability Management System (SMS)

A documented set of processes and practices that memorialize how an organization plans, manages, collects data on, implements, communicates about, and improves its sustainability performance. It follows the traditional “Plan-Do-Check-Act” framework of most management systems.

Sustainable design

The process of developing products, services, and organizations that comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. There are many principles of sustainable design, including a customer-centric approach, dematerialization, transmaterialization, and biomimicry.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global development framework of 17 interlinked global goals established in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly. The goals are designed to achieve a better and more sustainable future for the world by the year 2030 as part of a UN Resolution called the 2030 Agenda. The SDGs succeed the UN’s Millennium Development Goals which ended in 2015.

The 17 SDGs are: (1) No Poverty, (2) Zero Hunger, (3) Good Health and Well-being, (4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (6) Clean Water and Sanitation, (7) Affordable and Clean Energy, (8) Decent Work and Economic Growth, (9) Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, (10) Reducing Inequality, (11) Sustainable Cities and Communities, (12) Responsible Consumption and Production, (13) Climate Action, (14) Life Below Water, (15) Life On Land, (16) Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, (17) Partnerships for the Goals.

Sustainable materials management

A systemic approach to using and reusing materials and resources most productively and sustainably throughout their life cycles, from the point of resource extraction through material disposal. Sustainable materials management seeks to minimize the amount of materials used and all the associated environmental impacts, as well as account for economic efficiency and social considerations.

Also see Materials management.

Sustainable packaging

Packaging with minimized environmental impacts based on factors such as the types and amounts of materials used, manufacturing processes, or attributes upon disposal.

Synthetic materials

Synthetic materials are produced entirely by human processes, even if they contain some natural resources as components. Examples include polymers (plastics) and refined metals (steel and other alloys).

Systems

Systems are a set of elements or parts that is coherently organized and interconnected in a pattern or structure. This pattern or structure thus produces a characteristic set of behaviors, often classified as its “function” or “purpose” that form a united whole (Meadows, 2008).

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Systems thinking

The practice of looking at a pattern, structure, or organized set of elements or parts (a system) to understand, analyze, and act based upon the relationships among those elements or parts and with other systems. Systems thinking is used in solving for complex problems as a method of anticipating and avoiding unintended consequences. Unintended consequences most often occur when components of the system are acted upon in isolation.

Tactical sustainability

Engages in short-term planning, low or no cost projects, risk mitigation, and prevailing industry best practices, with little to no apparent commitment to aligning sustainability to long-term business strategy. It’s a focus on short-term results.

Take, make, waste

The take, make, waste model, sometimes called “cradle to grave,” follows a linear system of industrial production and consumption. The model is as follows:

• Extract (dig up, cut down or drill out) natural resources
• Manufacture and process into usable products
• Sell the products
• Buy and use the products
• Dispose of the materials remaining at the end of the product’s useful life in the trash or recycling
• Haul the disposed materials to landfills, incinerators, or recycling centers

Take-back

A “producer responsibility” approach to facilitating reuse or recycling whereby consumers return used products back to the company that produced them. Laws mandating company “take back” programs attempt to create incentives for companies to incorporate reusability/recyclability considerations into their initial product design.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Tangible assets

Tangible assets have a physical form, and include assets, such as machinery, buildings, land, and inventory.

Targets

Targets are quantified statements that define goal achievement (final target); they can also be used to define progress toward a goal (interim targets). A target includes metrics. The most common metrics are intensity and absolute. Other metrics include context-based, process, and outcome metrics. A target is quantitative.

Telecommute

A work arrangement where employees do not commute to a centralized office, but instead communicate with their organization via technology. This is sometimes called “remote work” or “work-from-home.”

Thermohaline conveyor

A global water circulation system driven by water temperature and salt-density that distributes water between the Earth’s oceans. Warmer water closer to the ocean’s surface travels from the northern Pacific Ocean, south through the Indian Ocean (where it is joined by more warm water), around the southern tip of Africa, and up to the northern Atlantic Ocean. At this point, the water cools and sinks toward the bottom of the ocean and travels back via the same path. The thermohaline conveyor is repsonsibile for bringing warmer, more temperate climate to most of Europe and has a profound effect on global climate. In the past, when this system has slowed or stopped, the results were ice ages throughout Europe. Concern is rising that global climate change is again slowing this conveyor system and endangering ecosystems and economies in the EU.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Tier 1 supplier

An entity that provides goods, materials and/or services directly to another entity. Also referred to as a supply chain partner.

Tier 2 supplier

Tier two suppliers are companies that supplies materials or parts to a manufacturer (tier one supplier). A single company may be a tier one supplier to one company and a tier two supplier to another company, or may be a tier one supplier for one product and a tier two supplier for a different product line.

Time value of money

A means of calculating how the value of money changes over time. This assumes that money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future, due to its potential earning capacity and the effects of inflation.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Tipping point

A way of looking at the way change happens in the world, put forth by Malcolm Gladwell in his bestselling book, The Tipping Point. The book contends that ideas, behaviors, messages, and products spread through society similar to disease, and that societal changes are like epidemics: a tiny force can cause enormous shifts. The “tipping point” is the moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches “critical mass.”

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Total cost accounting

Total cost accounting (TCA) is a financial tool used to provide a more complete assessment of the true profitability of an entity by taking into account a wider range of direct and indirect costs and savings. It uses longer time horizons that reflect the full economic or commercial life of the project, incorporates the time value of money, reveals hidden costs, and considers uncertain or less quantifiable costs.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Total cost of ownership

See life cycle costing.

Total quality management

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response and continuous feedback.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Tragedy of the Commons

A situation where individuals acting independently and rationally according to their own self-interest behave contrary to the best interests of the whole group by depleting a commonly-held resource (e.g. the environment, a pasture, the atmosphere). The phrase was originally coined by William Forster Lloyd and later used by Garrett Hardin in a 1968 article by the same name.

Transpiration

The process of plants absorbing water through the roots and then releasing water vapor through leaves.

Transportation Management System (TMS)

A Transportation Management System tracks and benchmarks transport based on various user-established parameters such as transport type, speed, lead time, load, costs, and GHG emissions, and defines the optimal transport based on the user’s priorities.

Triple bottom line (TBL)

An expansion of the traditional measurement and reporting framework for businesses that takes into account environmental, social, and economic performance in addition to financial performance. See other definitions for social sustainability, environmental sustainability, economic sustainability in the glossary.

UN Global Compact

The UN 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.

This standard can be accessed here.

Unintended consequences

Results from actions that were not expected or intended. Unintended consequences are often negative and are due to systems being more complex and interconnected than we may realize—especially environmental and social systems. The Precautionary Principle is an attempt at helping individuals, organizations, and societies to be more mindful of the effects of their decisions before taking action or making changes. It is being increasingly adopted by organizations around the world.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Upcycle

A term coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braungart. The process of converting an industrial nutrient (material) into something of similar or greater value in its second life. Aluminum and glass, for example, can usually be upcycled into the same quality of aluminum and glass as the original products. Upcycling is sometimes referred to as creative reuse.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Value chain

A value chain is a set of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product or service for the market. The concept comes from business management and was first described and popularized by Michael Porter in his 1985 best-seller, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.

The appropriate level for constructing a value chain is the business unit, not division or corporate level. Products pass through a chain of activities in order, and at each activity the product gains some value. The chain of activities gives the products more added value than the sum of added values of all activities.

Source: Wikipedia

Value Driver Model

The Value Driver Model (VDM) is a tool developed jointly by the UN Global Compact and UNPRI for determining and communicating the value of sustainability to business. It was designed to enhance investors’ understanding of how sustainability can protect and drive performance and financial value for a company. The VDM provides a framework for companies to better understand and communicate how sustainability strategies and performance translate into measurable financial value.

Variable or incentive pay

Variable pay, also known as incentive pay, is compensation that is earned if an individual or team achieves a goal. It is not guaranteed, but rather is based on performance or achieving goals. Typically goals relate to cost savings, additional revenue, or improved sales, productivity, or customer service. Variable pay provides companies flexibility while emphasizing accountability and the importance of achieving goals. It often takes the form of a bonus, commissions, shared savings, equity compensation, or profit sharing.

Velocity

The rate at which a risk, opportunity, or other factor will affect an organization over time.

Virtual organization

A network of individuals and organizations that coordinates the development, manufacturing, sales, distribution, and servicing of products or services and operate as a single entity with a common goal. A corporation can operate virtually as can a network of companies or organizations.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Volatile organic compound (VOC)

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects such as respiratory irritation, developmental and reproductive issues, and neurologic effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors.

VOCs can be found in paint, leather treatments, upholstery, plywood, pressed wood products, and other household and building materials. VOCs leach into the air in the form of gas and gradually build up to toxic levels when all doors and windows are closed. Exposure to VOCs have been associated with

Waste

Any material or product to be discarded, including the unusable remains or byproducts of something.

Waste footprint

The total amount of waste generated by an entity, which takes into account all waste streams: recyclables, landfill waste, compostables, and super-recyclables.

Waste management

The process of reducing the negative effects of waste on the environment and society, including human health and wellbeing.

Waste reduction

The process of reducing waste material and energy in manufacturing, use, and disposal by techniques such as dematerialization, transmaterialization, recycling, sustainable design, closed-loop supply chains, etc.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management

Wastewater

Wastewater comes from a combination of domestic, industrial, commercial, and agricultural activities. It also originates from stormwater runoff. Wastewater is mostly water (approximately 95%); the remaining constituents come from a variety of sources including pathogens and bacteria, organic materials, inorganic particles, emulsions, gases, toxins, and pharmaceuticals. Wastewater can be treated at a central wastewater treatment plant or through an on-site wastewater system (e.g., septic tank, drain field).

Water cycle

The water cycle is the movement of water on the planet by natural processes and through liquid, solid (ice), and gas (steam or vapor) phases. Movement and phase changes occur through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, percolation, plant transpiration, sublimation, surface flow, and groundwater flow. Also known as the hydrologic cycle.

Water footprint

The total amount of water used or consumed by an entity.

Water management

Water management is the control, movement, protection, use, and preservation of fresh water resources to minimize damage to life and property and maximize availability for essential needs.

Water risk

Water risk refers to the potential for an entity to experience a water-related challenge (e.g., water scarcity, water stress, flooding, or drought). The severity of the risk depends on the intensity of the water challenge, as well as the vulnerability of the entity. Water risks can be physical (e.g., too little water, too much water, water that is unfit for use, or inaccessible water), regulatory (e.g., strict, lenient, or poorly enforced regulations), or reputational (e.g., how your business is perceived by the public with respect to water). Water risks can originate both within and outside a company. The source of the risk will determine the appropriate mitigation response and whether a company will need to work with outside groups to address the challenge.

Water stress

Water stress refers to conditions that impair the ability to meet human and ecological demands for water on a current or near-future basis. Water stress considers the availability, quality, and accessibility of water resources. Accessibility is determined by whether people can make use of water supplies. This often depends on water infrastructure and affordability. Information about both water consumption and water withdrawals provides useful insights for water stress. Physical pressures, such as flooding and climate change impacts, can influence water conditions, but are not included in the notion of water stress.

Workforce relations

Workforce relations are a business system of policies and practices designed to create positive, mutually productive relations between a company’s management and its workforce. It encompasses hiring, workload management, and communications between business management and workforce organizations, including labor unions. Effective workforce relations maximize workforce motivation, performance, and productivity through fair and ethical management practices.

Workplace amenities

Workplace amenities are perks that improve the quality of the workday for employees. They typically relate to saving time or improving health. Examples are onsite childcare; personal services such as laundry and dry cleaning pick up and drop off, car detailing, or corporate concierge; food; nutrition consulting; personal trainers; onsite gym facilities; ergonomic furniture or treadmill desks; or meditation, yoga, massage, or other stress reduction activities.

Xeriscape

A creative style of landscape design that requires little or no irrigation or other maintenance by planting noninvasive, climate-friendly plants that can thrive in local conditions. Xeriscaping often includes river rock and other non-plant elements to add interest, variety, and definition.

Zero waste

The goal of developing products and services, managing their use and deployment, and creating recycling systems and markets in order to eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials and conserve and recover all resources. Implementing zero waste eliminates all discharges to land, water, or air that may be a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health. Many cities and states already have set zero-waste goals.

Source: Dictionary of Sustainable Management