Sustainable developpement glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Agenda 21
Programmes of action for the 21st century issued at the Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Agenda 21 serves as a guide for the implementation of sustainable development. It can be applied at a global or local level, to a private company or a public authority, etc.

B

Biodiversity (biological diversity)
Variation among organisms of all origins including, among others, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which they are part; including diversity within and between species and diversity of ecosystems.

Biogas
A gas produced from the fermentation of organic waste.

Biomass
Biomass includes all plant matter liable to be used as a fuel or energy source. It includes notably wood, biogas and straw.

Bruntland report
The common name of the report entitled “Our Common Future” published in 1987. This report was drafted from a number of studies by experts by the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Mrs Gro Harlem Bruntland, the Norwegian Prime minister at the time. This report served as a platform at the convocation of the first Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. Moreover, it was there that sustainable development was brought up for the first time.

C

Carbon dioxide (CO2)
A greenhouse gas that is naturally present in air and produced in large quantities by human activities. It is produced mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) but also as a result of certain industrial activities (cement manufacturing, etc.).

Carbon sink
A system (forests, oceans, etc.) which naturally absorbs some of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere.

Civil society
All movements, associations or individual citizens, independent from the State, whose aim is to transform policies, standards or social structures through communal efforts at a national or international level.

Clean development mechanism (CDM)
Clean development mechanism. This mechanism is based on carrying out projects which enable public or private sector entities to invest in activities which reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in developing countries and to acquire credits in return. These credits can then be used by the parties to reduce their own emissions or sold on the free market. The CDM projects not only contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions but also to the sustainable development of the host country.

Compost
A product obtained through the fermentation of organic waste in the presence of oxygen. It is an organic enriching agent which improves soil fertility.

Continual improvement
A process for enriching the environmental management system in order to improve global environmental performance in accordance with the organism’s global policy.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
The notion of corporate social responsibility is based on the idea that a company’s responsibility goes beyond the strict legal and regulatory responsibilities. Situated within a complex social structure, the company must integrate its continual improvement strategy for internal social performance (in the fields of natural and human resources) and external performance, i.e. societal (implications within the community, relations with various stakeholders, etc.). The results obtained more and more often make up a non-financial annual report for stakeholders, known as the CSR report.

Cost internalization
Taking into account outsourced functions when counting the overall cost of a product or service.

D

Developing country (DC)
There are no existing definitions set by the World Trade Organization (WTO) for “developed” and “developing” countries. Each member itself states whether it is a “developed” or “developing” country. However, other members can contest a decision taken by a member to have recourse to services in favor of developing countries.

E

Ecodesign
Taking into account the protection of the environment when designing goods and services. It enables products to be introduced into the market which are more respectful of the environment throughout their entire lifecycle, i.e. from the extraction of raw materials through to the waste produced during manufacturing, use and when they are thrown away.

Eco-efficiency
Looking to do more or better while using less. This process looks to integrate ecological considerations notably into industrial or administrative products.

Ecolabel
Information (usually displayed on a product label) which makes customers aware of the environmental characteristics of an article or the production or processing methods used to produce it. Official labels undergo independent checks.

Ecological footprint
A measure of the biologically productive area required to produce the resources and absorb the waste of a population of a given size. It is a measure of the pressure places by humans on nature and is calculated in hectares.

Ecology
A discipline which studies the relationships between living things and their environment.

Ecosystem
A dynamic complex made up of plant, animal and micro-organism communities, which, through interaction, develop in an environment a unit useful to each of them.

Energy efficiency
The relationship between the quantity of useful energy and the quantity of energy consumed. It is expressed by the Coefficient of Performance (COP) when dealing with heat production and by the Energy Efficiency Ratio for appliances used for cooling.

Environmental impact
Anything which causes the deterioration of our environment, either by using non-renewable resources (oil, coal, plastics, etc.) or by producing harmful products (waste, air, water and soil pollution).

Environnemental management system (EMS)
A structured approach which sets environmental targets and methods that enable these targets to be achieved. The EMS is based on ISO 14000 standards.

Externalities
Harmful effects on others of actions and decisions for which the people who cause them will not necessarily be responsible.

 G

Genetically modified organism (GMO)
Genetically modified organisms are plants or animals whose genes have been modified in vitro in order to give them new properties which can be passed on to subsequent generations. They pose many questions regarding precautionary principles and the preservation of cycles and natural evolution; on the one hand, the possible danger for man and other living organisms and, on the other hand, dependency risks linked to the monopoly situation created by 3 or 4 large food-processing groups which share patents.

Glass ceiling
An invisible obstacle resulting from a complex combination of structures within organisations which prevents minorities from accessing higher roles.

Global warming potential (GWP)
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) do not all contribute to the greenhouse effect in the same way. Their relative contributions can be estimated thanks to the Global Warming Potential (GWP) index. This index defines a gas’ ability to absorb infrared rays emitted by the Earth over a period of 100 years.

Green building
Green building corresponds to the characteristics of a building, its equipment (goods and services) and the rest of the site. It also includes the construction or adaptation of the building which allows it to meet the needs for managing impacts on the outside environment and creating a comfortable and healthy interior environment. Green building also looks to best use local resources and thus contributes to the growth of local economies and reduces transport of materials.

Greenhouse effect
Our planet’s average temperature is a result of the balance between the flow of the sun’s rays which we receive and the flow of infrared rays which are sent back into space. The greenhouse effect intercepts the infrared rays and thus prevents the energy that we receive from the sun returning too quickly into space. It therefore plays a major part in maintaining the temperature on the Earth’s surface as we know it. The temperature breakdown at ground level depends on the quantity of greenhouse gas present in the atmosphere. Without it, the average temperature would be -18°C and Earth would be uninhabitable. The presence of greenhouse gases brings the temperature up to 15°C.
The greenhouse effect is therefore a natural and beneficial phenomenon. It is only man’s excessive production of greenhouse gases which produces the risk of the temperature rising. Greenhouse gases are naturally not very abundant. However, due to human activity, the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere has significantly changed. Excluding water vapor, of which the air can hold varying amounts depending on the temperature, the main greenhouse gases of human origin are, firstly, carbonic gas or CO2 (use of coal, oil, gas), methane (which comes mainly from rice fields, rubbish tips, cattle breeding, etc.), nitrogen oxides (which come from certain industries and excess manure spreading) and finally CFCs which are chlorinated compounds.

Greenhouse gases (GHG)
Gases present in small quantities in the atmosphere which absorb a part of the energy reemitted by the Earth and enable it to maintain an average temperature which can support life: water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide or carbonic gas (CO2) and methane (CH4). Their sharp increase due to human activities is the main cause of climate change.

I

Intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC)
The IPCC’s role is to evaluate relevant scientific, technical and socio-economic information in order to understand the risk of climate change caused by humans.

ISO
The International Standards Organization is a federation of national standards bodies of 140 countries with one body per country.
The ISO is a non-governmental organization and was created in 1947. Its mission is to promote the development of standardization and related activities throughout the world with a view to facilitating exchanges of goods and services between countries and to develop cooperation in the intellectual, scientific, technical and economic fields.
The work of the ISO ends with international agreements which are published in the form of International Standards.

J

Joint implementation (JI)
The JI system is very similar to the CDM system. It is mainly applied to countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

K

Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol dates from 1997. Its aim is to combat climate change through international actions to reduce certain greenhouse gas emissions which are responsible for global warming. The target is to reduce emissions by 5.2% on average from 2008-2012 based on emissions in 1990. Reduction in Europe should be 8%. After ratification by Russia, it was applied in 2005.

L

Life cycle assessment
A detailed assessment of the environmental effects of a process, product or service “from the cradle to the grave”.

N

National quota allocation plan (NQAP)
Plan national d'allocation des quotas (PNAQ)
Following the Kyoto Protocol, it was decided by the signatory countries to introduce a system of greenhouse gas emissions quotas to combat climate change. The member states fixed emission reduction targets for each period for each of the facilities concerned via a national quota allocation plan (NQAP) which had previously been validated by the Commission. At the beginning of each period, they allocate a given quota volume to the owners of the facilities, on the basis of the emissions of the activities concerned. A quota corresponds to the emission of one tonne of CO2. Two periods of implementation are planned: 2005-2007 and 2008-2012.

New Economic Regulations (NRE)
A law known as “Nouvelles Régulations Economiques”, published in France’s Journal Officiel in 2001. Article 116 obligates listed French companies to include a section on the environmental, social and territorial impacts of their activities in their annual report.

Non-governmental organization (NGO)
In the UN’s terms, voluntary groups of citizens organized on a local, national or international scale. They carry out humanitarian assignments, make the government aware of citizens’ concerns, encourage political participation at community level, etc.

O

Organic waste
Waste material which comes from living organisms. This includes vegetation, putrescible kitchen waste and waste collected from company canteens and restaurants, and dirty paper and cardboard under certain conditions. This waste is used to manufacture compost. (link to definition of compost).

P

Photovoltaic cell
A semiconductor device in which the absorption of photons frees negatively charged electrons and positively charged gaps. These electric charges are separated by an internal electric field and collected by a grid at the front and a contact at the rear. The photovoltaic cell is a basic electricity generator.

Polluter pays principle
A principle whereby the polluter is liable for any expenses resulting from prevention measures, combating pollution and the reduction thereof.

Precautionary principle
The aim of this principle is to implement measures to warn against serious and irreversible risks or damage.

R

Recycling
The returning of products previously considered as waste to a production channel. Recycling enables the original raw material of a product to be processed and reused several times. Recycling is different from incineration which only reuses part of the energy contained in the product once.

Renewable energy
Natural and inexhaustible energy sources. The first of these is the sun’s rays and the others follow more or less directly (wind, water cycle, tides, manufacture of biomass, etc.).

Renewable energy generator
Any electricity generator which requires renewable energy to work. It may be a photovoltaic generator, an aerogenerator or a hydroelectric micro-power station.

Rio Declaration
On June 14, 1992, 178 states adopted the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The principles expressed constitute the basis of sustainable development.

S

Social and environmental rating
An external evaluation which leads to a rating; the non-financial rating enables the quality of commitments, policies and the company’s social, environmental and governance performances to be measured through analysis and scoring techniques.

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)
SRI brings together all of the approaches which consist in integrating non-financial criteria (social, environmental and societal) in decisions involving funds and portfolio management.
3 types of socially responsible investment are commonly identified:
- exclusion funds: they exclude certain sectors of activity (gambling, weapons, tobacco, etc.) for moral or religious reasons;
- funds with a high shareholder commitment: managers exercise their shareholder’s right (voting rights at AGMs, proposal of resolutions) to “force” the company to adopt a socially responsible policy. They also maintain regular dialogue with company management boards;
- “best in class” funds: the investment process is not based on ex ante exclusion of certain sectors of activity. On the contrary, it is an inclusive process looking to promote best practices in terms of social, environmental and societal responsibility.

Stakeholders
Individuals and groups with a more or less direct interest in the life of a company or institution: shareholders, employees, clients and suppliers, public authorities, civil society (NGOs, local communities, residents, etc.).

Sustainable development
Sustainable development is development which meets current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs

W

Whistle blowing
This covers all methods of reporting by employees of any criminal practices within their company.
In the United States, in order to facilitate whistle blowing and to attempt to prevent scandals such as Enron, the Sarbanes Oxley Act on financial transparency recommends the implementation of internal alert procedures