ABC’s of sustainability
Navigate corporate sustainability with confidence.
Our glossary provides concise definitions of common sustainability terms, organizations and regulations, empowering business leaders to make informed decisions for a more sustainable future.
Biodiversity
The variability of life forms in ecosystems
Climate
Patterns of weather and atmospheric conditions over time
- 1.5 Degrees
- Abatement
- Absolute Contraction
- Absolute Reductions
- Adaptation
- American Carbon Registry (ACR)
- Avoided Emissions
- Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM)
- Bioenergy
- Biogenic Emissions
- Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
- Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU)
- Carbon Credit
- Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)
- Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
- Carbon Footprint
- Carbon Negative
- Carbon Neutrality
- Carbon Offset
- Carbon Sequestration
- Carbon Sinks
- Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs)
- Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
- Clean Technologies
- Climate Action Reserve (CAR)
- Climate Change
- Climate Change Mitigation
- Climate Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards
- Climate Finance
- Climate Neutrality
- Climate Physical Risks
- Climate Resilence
- Climate Transition Risks
- Climate-Related Risk Assessment
- Convergence of Carbon Intensity (SDA)
- Corporate Climate Targets
- Cross-Sector Pathway
- Decarbonization
- Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS)
- Double Counting
- Economic Intensity Contraction
- Emission Reduction Purchasing Agreement (ERPA)
- Emissions Factor (EF)
- Emissions Leakage
- Emissions Reduction (ER)
- Enhanced Weathering
- Forests, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) Emissions
- Fossil fuels
- Geothermal energy
- GHG Inventories
- GHG Protocol
- GHG Reporting
- Global Emissions Budget
- Global Warming potential
- Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Targets
- Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
- Human Toxicity
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
- Insetting
- Intensity Convergence
- Intensity Reductions
- IPCC Special Report on 1.5 degrees
- Kyoto Protocol
- Long-Term Science-Based Targets
- Mitigation
- Mitigation Hierarchy
- Mitigation Strategy
- Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)
- Near-Term Science-Based Targets
- Negative Emissions
- Net Positive
- Net-Zero
- Neutrality Claim
- Neutralization
- Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
- Offsetting
- Ozone
- Ozone Depletion
- Paris Agreement Pre-Industrial Levels
- PAS 2060
- Physical Intensity
- Radiative Forcing
- Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)
- Removals
- Residual Emissions
- Retire
- SBTi Net-Zero Expert Advisory Group (EAG)
- SBTi Scientific Advisory Group (SAG)
- SBTi Technical Advisory Group (TAG)
- Science-Based Methods
- Science-based Target (SBTs)
- Science-based Targets Initative (SBTi)
- Scope 1 Emissions
- Scope 2 Emissions
- Scope 3 Emissions
- Sector-Specific Pathways
- Sectorial Decarbonization Approach (SDA)
- Solar energy
- Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
- TCFD Aligned Climate Related Risk Assessment
- Unabated Coal
- United Nations Conference of Parties (COP)
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
- Value Chain Emissions
- Vintage
- World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
General Sustainability Terms
Balancing present needs with future generations
- Acute Toxicity
- Air Quality Index (AQI)
- Anthropocene
- Baseline scenario
- Biodegradable
- Circularity / Circular Economy
- Closed Loop
- Commitments
- Composting
- Degrowth
- E-Waste
- End-of-Life (EOL)
- Ex-ante
- Ex-post
- Greenwashing
- Linear economy
- Natural Capital
- Nature-Based Project
- PEF (Product Environmental Footprint)
- Planetary Boundaries
- Regenerative Organic
- Resilient Supply Chains
- Sustainability
- Sustainable
- Systems Thinking
- Triple Bottom Line
- Zero Waste
Government + Law
Regulations and policies for environmental protection
- Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
- Best Available Techniques (BATs)
- Clean Air Act
- Clean Water Act
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
- Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
- Environmental Protection Agency
- EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS)
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
- Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD)
- Paris Agreement
- Paris Rulebook
- Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
Land + Agriculture
Sustainable cultivation and stewardship of natural landscapes
Organizations
Driving sustainable practices and advocacy
Plastics
Synthetic materials polluting ecosystems and oceans
Social
Promoting equity, resilience and justice in global communities
Water
Managing resources for clean access and ecosystem health
- Acidification
- Basin Water Risk
- Blackwater
- Blue Economy
- Bluewater
- Collective Action
- Extreme Weather Events
- Graywater/Greywater
- Operational Water Risk
- Physical Water Risk
- Rainwater harvesting
- Regulatory Water Risk
- Reputational Water Risk
- Shared Water Challenges
- Shared Water Risks
- Water Basin
- Water Footprint
- Water Quality Risk
- Water Quantity Risk
- Water Risk Assessment
- Water Stewardship
- Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
