Agenda 21
Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organisations of the United Nations system, governments, and Major Groups in every area in which humans impact on the environment. It was adopted by more than 178 governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992.
Source: United Nations Division of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)
A
Best Management Practices (BMP)
Methods or techniques found to be the most effective and practical means in achieving an objective (such as preventing or minimising pollution) while making the optimum use of resources.
Source: UNEP
B
Byproducts
Output other than the principal product(s) of an industrial process. Byproducts have low value in comparison with the principal product(s) and may be discarded or sold either in their original state, or after further processing.
Source: UNEP
C
Carbon Footprint (CF)
The total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organisation, event or product. For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent of other GHGs, emitted.
Source: Climate Action Plan & Business Sustainability | The Carbon Trust
Carrying Capacity of Ecosystems
The capacity of an ecosystem to support healthy organisms while maintaining its productivity, adaptability and capability for renewal. Carrying capacity is a quantitative concept: critical factors for human populations include numbers and density, affluence and technology. Concerns focus on depletion rates of renewable and non-renewable resources and the build up of hazardous wastes in the environment.
Source: UNEP
Choice Editing / Choice Influencing
Choice editing is the term used to describe instances where governments and/or businesses influence the choices made by consumers. For example, a decision by the government to remove all non-energy efficient light bulbs removes the choice for consumers to buy light bulbs that are not energy efficient.
Source: Article 13 | Independent Sustainability Consultancy
Circular Economy
A Circular Economy features low consumption of energy, low emission of pollutants and high efficiency. It involves applying Cleaner Production in companies, eco-industrial park development and integrated resource-based planning for development in industry, agriculture and urban areas. The Circular Economy was adopted by the Chinese Government in the last five year plan (2001-2005) as the development model for China to follow.
Source: UNEP
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
As set out in Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is a flexible mechanism which allows a country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Protocol to implement an emission-reduction project in a developing country in order to earn sellable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2 which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.
Source: UNFCC
Cleaner Production
The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, goods, and services to increase overall efficiency, and reduce risks to humans and the environment. Cleaner Production can be applied to the processes used in any industry, to goods themselves, and to various services provided in society.
Source: UNEP
CO2 Equivalent
The concentration of CO2 that would cause the same amount of radiative forcing as the given mixture of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq) provide a universal standard of measurement against which the impacts of releasing (or avoiding the release of) different greenhouse gases can be evaluated.
Source: UNEP
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1992 to ensure an effective follow-up of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Earth Summit. The Commission is responsible for reviewing progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, as well as providing policy guidance to follow up the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) at the local, national, regional and international levels. The JPOI reaffirmed that the CSD is the high-level forum for sustainable development within the United Nations system. The CSD meets annually in New York, in two-year cycles, with each cycle focusing on clusters of specific thematic and crosssectoral issues, outlined in its new multi-year programme of work (2003-2017) (E/CN.17/2003/6).
Source: UNEP
Consumer Information
Consumer information pertaining to the characteristics of products and transactions, made available to consumers/users to allow them to make informed choices at the time of initial acquisition and afterwards for use of the goods or services concerned. Consumer information makes it easier for consumers to compare goods and services, increases transparency and accountability and reduces search costs. It can be used not only to inform but also to influence consumer behaviour - a case in point includes campaigns to encourage sustainable consumer choices and consumption patterns. Information may encompass details of process and production methods which are intended to inform consumers of the wider effects of the production of the goods or services. The information may be provided by the producer or by third parties such as consumer organisations, testing agencies, labelling or certification organisations etc.
Source: UNEP
Consumer Preferences
A consequence of consumer choice, guiding the acquisition of a good or service on the basis of the information available. This may include the preference not to consume at all.
Source: UNEP
Consumer Protection
This refers to mechanisms (legal, quasi-legal, moral and institutional) to protect consumers or users in their transactions with producers (e.g. safeguards against unfair contract terms) and in their use of goods or services (e.g. product safety standards). The UN guidelines on consumer protection (1999) “recognise that consumers, particularly in developing countries, often face imbalances in economic terms, educational levels and bargaining power”; and that they “should have the right of access to non-hazardous products, as well as the right to promote just, equitable and sustainable economic and social development and environmental protection.” The guidelines also state that governments role is crucial to maintain adequate infrastructure to develop, implement and monitor consumer protection policies. Special care should be taken to ensure that measures for consumer protection are implemented for the benefit of all sectors of the population, particularly the rural population and people living in poverty. In applying any procedures or regulations for consumer protection, due regard should be given to ensuring that they do not become barriers to international trade and that they are consistent with international trade obligations.”
Based on: Consumers International and UNDESA
Consumers
Everyday purchaser of a good or service in retail or end user in the distribution chain of a good or service.
Source: UNEP
Consumption
Expenditure during a particular period on goods and services used in satisfaction of needs and wants, or process in which the substance of a thing is completely destroyed, and/or incorporated or transformed into something else.
Source: UNEP
Conspicuous Consumption
Lavish spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth and maintaining social status.
Source: UNEP
Continuous Improvement (in the context of SCP)
Continuous improvement is an ongoing systematic effort seeking small improvements in processes and products, with the objective of increasing quality and reducing waste, as well as reducing footprints and minimising environmental and socio-economic burdens while maximising economic and social values. Continuous improvement is one of the tools that underpin the philosophies of total quality management and clean production. Through constant study and revision of processes, a better product can result in reduced costs.
Source: UNEP
Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER)
A values-based way of conducting business in a manner that advances sustainable development, seeking positive impact between business operations and society, aware of the close interrelation between business and society as well as of companies, like citizens, having basic rights and duties wherever they operate.
Source: UNEP
Cradle to Cradle
Cradle-to-cradle promotes the principle that products can be designed from the outset so that, after their useful lives, they will provide nourishment for something new. This could be either as a biological nutrient that will easily re-enter the water or soil without depositing synthetic materials and toxins or as technical nutrients that will continually circulate as pure and valuable material within a closed loop industrial cycle.
Source: UNEP
D
Decent Work
Decent work involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace, social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organise and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.
Decent work is captured in four strategic objectives: fundamental principles, rights at work and international labour standards; employment and income opportunities; social protection and social security; and social dialogue and tripartism. These objectives hold for all workers, women and men, in both formal and informal economies; in wage employment or working on their own account; in the fields, factories and offices; in their home or in the community
Source: UNEP
Decoupling Economic Growth from Environmental Degradation
Decoupling refers to the relationship between (1) economic variables, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the Human Development Index (HDI), and (2) environmental variables, such as resource use or environmental indicators.
There is a distinction between decoupling economic growth from resource use and from environmental impacts.
-Resource decoupling refers to reducing the relationship between economic growth and the consumption of land, material, water and energy resources. -Impact decoupling refers to reducing the relationship between economic growth and environmental impacts such as climate change, biodiversity loss and degradation of human health.
There is also a distinction between absolute and relative decoupling.
-In relative decoupling, the growth rate of the environmentally relevant parameter is less than the economic parameter but is still positive.
-In absolute decoupling, the growth rate of the environmental parameter is zero or negative.
Source: UNEP
Dematerialisation
Dematerialisation is often mentioned as a strategy or as an indicator in the framework of sustainable development. Dematerialisation can be defined as the reduction of the throughput of materials in human societies. The degree of dematerialisation can be measured on different geographical scales like nations, regions and cities, but also within different sectors of industry, households and in products. One can distinguish absolute (or strong) dematerialisation and relative (or weak) dematerialisation. When the total amount of material inputs in society is decreasing this is called absolute dematerialisation. When the amount of material input is going down per unit of GDP or per capita the term relative dematerialisation is used.
Source: UNEP
Design for Sustainability / Design Strategy
Design for sustainability takes eco-design approaches further and addresses the social dimension of sustainability in the design process. It also encompasses the broader issue of how best to meet needs (functionality) with minimal environmental and social impacts, rather than focusing on improving existing products.
Source: UNEP
Demand Side Management (DSM)
Implementation of policies or measures that serve to reduce or otherwise influence the demand (by users or consumers) instead of supply.
Source: UNEP
E
Eco-efficiency
Eco-efficiency is a management philosophy that encourages businesses to search for environmental improvements that yield parallel economic benefits. It focuses on business opportunities and allows companies to become more environmentally responsible and more profitable. It is a key business contribution to sustainable societies. Eco-efficiency is achieved by the delivery of competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle to a level at least in line with the earth’s estimated carrying capacity.
Source: UNEP
Ecodesign
Ecodesign aims at reducing the environmental impact of products (including energy consumption) throughout their entire life cycle.
Source: UNEP
Ecological Footprint
A measure of how much biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates using prevailing technology and resource management practices. The ecological footprint is usually measured in global hectares (a common unit that encompasses the average productivity of all the biologically productive land and sea area in the world in a given year). Because trade is global, an individual or country’s footprint includes land or sea from all over the world.
Source: UNEP
Ecological Tax Reform
Taxation and pricing instruments aimed at improving environmental management, including taxes on the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. forests, minerals, fisheries), user charges and fees (e.g. water charges, street parking fees and permits or licences on natural resources), taxes or charges on polluting emissions (e.g. air pollution) and reforms to subsidies (e.g. on pesticides, water, energy)
Source: UNEP
Ecosystem Services
Ecological processes or functions that have value or benefits to individuals or society. These include
• Provisioning services - the products obtained from ecosystems, including, for example, genetic resources, food and fibre, and freshwater
• Regulating services - the benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, including, for example, the regulation of climate, water and some human diseases
• Cultural services - the non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, reflection, recreation and aesthetic experience, including, for example, knowledge systems, social relations and aesthetic values
• Supporting services. - the services necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services, including, for example, biomass production, production of atmospheric oxygen, soil formation and retention, nutrient cycling, water cycling and provision of habitat.
Source: UNEP
Education for Sustainable Consumption (ESC)
Education for Sustainable Consumption aims to provide knowledge, values and skills to enable individuals and social groups to become actors of change towards more sustainable consumption behaviours. The objective is to ensure that the basic needs of the global community are met, quality of life for all is improved and inefficient use of resources and environmental degradation are avoided. ESC is therefore about providing citizens with appropriate information and knowledge on the environmental and social impacts of their daily choices, as well as providing workable solutions and alternatives. ESC integrates fundamental rights and freedoms including consumers’ rights, and aims at protecting and empowering consumers in order to enable them to participate in the public debate and economy in an informed, confident and ethical way.
Source: UNEP
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
Education for sustainable development aims to help people to develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge to make informed decisions for the benefit of themselves and others, now and in the future, and to act upon these decisions. ESD supports five fundamental types of learning to provide quality education and foster sustainable human development:
1. learning to know
2. learning to be
3. learning to live together
4. learning to do
5. learning to transform oneself and society.
ESD concerns all levels of education and all social contexts (family, school, workplace, community). It allows learners to acquire the skills, capacities, values and knowledge required to ensure sustainable development, and fosters responsible citizens.
Source: UNEP
Electronic Waste / E-Waste / Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
E-waste is a generic term encompassing various forms of electrical and electronic equipment that are old, end-of-life appliances and have ceased to be of any value to their owners. A practical definition of e-waste is “any electrically powered appliance that fails to satisfy the current owner for its originally intended purpose”.
Source: UNEP
Emissions Trading (ET)
A market-based approach to achieving environmental objectives that allows those reducing greenhouse gas emissions below what is required, to use or trade the excess reductions to offset emissions at another source inside or outside the country. In general, trading can occur at the intra-company, domestic and international levels.
Source: UNEP
Energy Efficient Buildings (net-zero-energy buildings)
Energy efficiency is a central requirement of a sustainable building. The target is to construct net-zero-energy buildings where, as a result of the high level of energy efficiency of the building, the overall annual primary energy consumption is equal to or less than the energy production from renewable energy sources on-site
Source: UNEP
End-of-Life (EoL)
Stage in the life cycle of a product when it becomes obsolete or has reached the end of its useful life. When goods become obsolete (such as when they break, have no use, or simply become unwanted) consumers then make decisions about the end of life of the things they buy, which could be reused, recycled, or thrown away for final disposal.
Source: UNEP
Energy Efficiency (EE)
Energy Efficiency (EE) encompasses all changes that result in a reduction in the energy used for a given energy service (heating, lighting...) or level of activity. This reduction in energy consumption is not necessarily associated with technical changes, since it can also result from a better organisation and management or improved economic efficiency in the sector (e.g. overall gains of productivity).
Source: UNEP
Environmental Awareness / Education
Environmental Awareness or Education is a core component of Education for Sustainable Development and takes the environment as its entry point. Environmental education and training is meant to transfer knowledge, values, behaviours and skills that enable people, individually and collectively, to better understand and to interact positively with their natural but also social, economic and cultural environment.
Source: UNEP
Environmental Labelling and Certification
Voluntary procedure of ensuring that a product (refers to both goods and services, including their production processes) meets certain specified criteria.
• Environmental label – the claim that indicates the environmental aspects of a good or service.
• Ecolabel is awarded by an impartial third party in relation to certain products that meet environmental leadership criteria based on life cycle considerations.
• Certification is awarded to those products that comply absolutely with a set of baseline standards.
Source: UNEP
Environmental Management System
An environmental management system (EMS) is part of an organisation’s management system used to develop and implement its environmental policy and manage its interactions with the environment. A management system is a set of interrelated requirements used to establish policy and objectives, and to achieve those objectives it includes organisational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources.
Source: UNEP
Environmentally Sound Technologies
Technologies that protect the environment, are less polluting, use resources in a more sustainable manner, recycle more of their wastes and products, and handle residual wastes in a more acceptable manner than other technologies. In the context of pollution, they are “process and product technologies” that generate low or no waste, for the prevention of pollution. They also cover “end of the pipe” technologies for treatment of pollution after it has been generated. They are total systems which include know-how, procedures, goods and services, and equipment as well as organisational and managerial procedures.
Source: CSD/UNDESA
Ethical Investment / Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)
Socially Responsible Investment (SRI), also collectively known as ethical investment, refers to the strategy of focusing on the positive social and/or ecological impact of a company, in addition to its financial return.
Source: UNEP
Ethical Trade
Ethical trade means that retailers, brands and their suppliers take responsibility for improving the working conditions of the people who make the products they sell. Companies with a commitment to ethical trade adopt a code of labour practice that they expect all their suppliers to work towards. Such codes address issues such as wages, hours of work, health and safety and the right to join trade unions.
Source: Ethical Trading Initiative
Extended Producer Responsibility
Extended Producer Responsibility means that the producers take responsibility for their products from cradle to grave, and therefore, should develop products that have improved performance throughout all stages of the product life cycle. At each stage of the life cycle, opportunities for improved performance exist.
Source: UNEP
Externalities
Byproducts of activities that affect the well-being of people or damage the environment, where those impacts are not reflected in market prices. The costs (or benefits) associated with externalities do not enter standard cost accounting schemes.
Source: UNEP
F
Factor 10 / Factor 4
Factor 10 refers to the possibility of creating products and services that have a resource intensity one-tenth that of the conventional alternative. It evolved from the concept of Factor 4, as developed at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment & Energy. The idea behind Factor Four is that natural resources can be used four times more efficiently in all domains of daily life, either by generating more goods, services and quality of life from the available resources or by using less resources to maintain the same standard.
Source: EEA and Global Development Research Centre
Fairtrade
Fairtrade works with farmers and workers so they can improve their living standards, invest in their communities and businesses, and protect our shared environment.
Fairtrade achieves this by rallying a global community of millions – farmers and workers, supply chain partners, brands, retailers, shoppers, schools, and government – to pay fair prices and uphold fair production standards and practices.
Source: Fairtrade Fundation
Function Based Approach
Human needs should be met by goods and services that are aimed at specific “functions” such as nutrition, shelter and mobility, and that are provided through optimised consumption and production systems that do not exceed the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. This describes the goal of an emerging group of efforts, which can be described as a “function-based approach”.
The function-based approach uses life-cycle thinking, and looks at satisfying needs and functions in a different way, and not only through material consumption.
Source: UNEP
G
Gender Balance / Mainstreaming
The process of assessing the implications for women and men of Mainstreaming any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.
Source: UNEP
Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)
The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is an alternative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which enables policymakers at the national, state, regional, or local level to measure how well their citizens are doing, both economically and socially. While economists, policy makers, reporters, and the public rely on the GDP as a shorthand indicator of progress, that measure is merely a sum of national spending with no distinctions between transactions that add to well-being and those that diminish it.
The GPI starts with the same personal consumption data that the GDP is based on, but then makes some crucial distinctions. It adjusts for factors such as income distribution, adds factors such as the value of household and volunteer work, and subtracts factors such as the costs of crime and pollution. The GPI is one of the first alternatives to the GDP to be vetted by the scientific community and used regularly by governmental and non-governmental organisations worldwide. Because the GDP and the GPI are both measured in monetary terms, they can be compared on the same scale. Measurements that make up the GPI include: Income Distribution, Housework, Volunteering, Higher Education, Crime, Resource Depletion, Pollution, Long-Term Environmental Damage, Changes in Leisure Time, Defensive Expenditures, Lifespan of Consumer Durables & Public Infrastructure, Dependence on Foreign Assets.
Source: UNEP
Global Green New Deal (GGND)
In response to the global financial and economic crisis, which broke out in the autumn of 2008, UNEP has called for a “Global Green New Deal” for reviving the global economy and boosting employment, while simultaneously accelerating the fight against climate change, environmental degradation and poverty. UNEP is recommending that a significant portion of the estimated US$3 trillion in pledged economic stimulus packages be invested in five critical areas:
• Raising the energy efficiency of old and new buildings
• Transitioning to renewable energies including wind, solar, geothermal and biomass
• Increasing reliance on sustainable transport including hybrid vehicles, high speed rail and bus rapid transit system
• Bolstering the planet’s ecological infrastructure, including freshwater ecosystems, forests, soils and coral reefs
• Supporting sustainable agriculture, including organic production.
The Global Green New Deal also calls for a range of specific measures aimed at assisting poorer countries in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and greening their economies. These include an expansion of microcredit schemes for clean energy, reform of perverse subsidies (from fossil fuel use to fisheries), and the greening of overseas development aid.
Source: UNEP
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
Network-based, international, multi-stakeholder initiative that has pioneered the development of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework. Its secretariat in Amsterdam is committed to its continuous improvement and application worldwide. The reporting guidelines include indicators on various aspects of SCP. The reporting framework is developed through a consensus-seeking process with participants drawn globally from business, civil society, labour, and professional institutions, in order to ensure the highest degree of technical quality, credibility, and relevance. The initiative was launched by CERES and UNEP in 1997.
Source: UNEP
Green Building
A green building focuses on ecological aspects. It is designed, specified and constructed with energy and water efficiency in mind, and minimising any adverse impact of the building on its inhabitants as well as the environment.
Source: UNEP
Green / Environmental Claims and Misleading Environmental Claims
Green/environmental claims are assertions made by firms about the environmentally beneficial qualities or characteristics of their products. In addition to environmental qualities, such claims are often also defined to include the socially responsible or ethical manner in which products are produced and distributed. They can refer to production processes, packaging or the distribution of products, as well as their use, consumption, or disposal (e.g. recycling, sustainable forestry, sustainable fishing, organic agriculture, carbon footprint). The claims can appear on a product, its packaging, in related literature or advertising material, as well as promotional and point of sales material. The claims can take the form of written text, symbols, or graphics, but also include transmission through digital and electronic media such as television, radio, or the internet.
Misleading environmental claims are false or deceptive information about the environmentally beneficial qualities or characteristics of goods and services that mislead consumers into making purchasing decisions which they would not otherwise have made, resulting in a loss of economic welfare.
Source: UNEP
Greenwashing
Greenwashing is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. Companies are notably accused of greenwashing when they spend more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimise their environmental impact.
Source: UNEP
Green Economy Initiative (GEI)
The UNEP-led Green Economy Initiative (GEI) consists of several components whose collective overall objective is to make a macroeconomic case for, and provide guidance on, investing in green sectors and in greening brown sectors. The initiative is to demonstrate that investing in sectors such as renewable energies, clean and efficient technologies, water services, and sustainable agriculture can contribute to economic growth, creation of decent jobs, social equity, and poverty reduction while addressing climate and other ecological challenges.
Within UNEP, the GEI includes three sets of activities. The first is the production of a Green Economy Report (GER) and related research materials, which will analyse the macroeconomic, sustainability, and poverty-reduction implications of green investment in a range of sectors, from renewable energy to sustainable agriculture, and provides guidance on policies that can enable increased investment in these sectors. The second is the provision of advisory services on ways to move towards a green economy in specific countries. The third is the active engagement of a wide range of research institutions, NGOs, business, and UN partners in implementing the GEI.
Beyond UNEP, the GEI is one of the nine UN-wide Joint Crisis Initiatives (JCI) launched by the UN System’s Chief Executives Board in early 2009. In this context, the UNEP-led GEI includes a wide range of research activities and capacity building events from over 20 UN agencies including the Bretton Woods Institutions. In addition, the UN System’s interagency Environment Management Group (EMG) has decided to establish an Issue Management Group (IMG) on Green Economy, which provides an operating mechanism for coordinating the various activities and events planned under the JCI on Green Economy.
Source: UNEP
Green Growth
Green Growth is environmentally sustainable economic progress that fosters low-carbon, socially inclusive development. It articulates concise and clear entry points and policy approaches for making real gains in eco-efficiency and transferring to low-carbon development, synergising climate action with development goals.
Source: UNEP
Green Jobs
Green jobs is defined in a joint ILO-UNEP study on the subject as work in agriculture, industry, services and administration that contributes to preserving or restoring the quality of the environment.
Green jobs reduce the environmental impact of enterprises and economic sectors, ultimately to levels that are sustainable. Green jobs are found in many sectors of the economy, from energy supply to recycling, and from agriculture and construction to transportation. They help to cut the consumption of energy, raw materials and water through high-efficiency strategies, to decarbonise the economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to minimise or avoid altogether all forms of waste and pollution, to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity.
Source: UNEP
Green Marketing or Sustainable Marketing
The term “sustainable marketing” covers three aspects:
• Responsible marketing, which describes procedures and management systems developed to avoid promoting unsustainable behaviours
• Green marketing, which consists of the design and promotion of goods and services with an environmental value added. This refers to improvements over the entire life-cycle of a product, including environmentally-friendly sourcing, clean production processes, improved impact during use, reduced packaging, recyclability, reusability, existence of take-back schemes, etc. This definition can be broadened to goods and services with a social value added such as fair trade, sweatshop-free or locally produced goods
• Social marketing, which aims at raising public awareness in order to introduce more sustainable behaviours, such as energy or water conservation, and waste reduction
Source: UNEP
H
Human Development Index (HDI)
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a method of measuring development by combining indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment and income into a composite human development index. The breakthrough for the HDI was the creation of a single statistic which was to serve as a frame of reference for both social and economic development. The HDI sets a minimum and a maximum for each dimension, called goalposts, and then shows where each country stands in relation to these goalposts, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. The HDI facilitates instructive comparisons of the experiences within and between different countries.
Source: UNEP
Holistic Approach (in relation to SCP)
Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) is seen as a holistic approach, since it integrates economic, social and environmental aspects (Triple Bottom Line), as well as technological and behavioural innovation, along the whole life cycle. SCP is cross-cutting regarding disciplines, and covers all natural resources (e.g. energy, water, air, soil and all pollutants and emissions dumped in ecosystems) as well as industry sectors and consumption domains.
Source: UNEP
I
Indicators for SCP
Indicators are an important tool for measuring change and for focusing attention on key priorities. The primary focus of SCP indicators is on measuring progress towards more sustainable patterns of production and consumption. Recognising that what goes unmeasured is often ignored, indicators are an important tool both for indicating progress – or the lack of it – towards the specific objectives of a particular programme and for prompting appropriate response strategies. In the context of SCP, indicators can also indicate whether a society’s consumption and production patterns are bringing about more socially equitable and environmentally sustainable development.
Source: UNEP
L
Leapfrogging
A term used to describe the possibility for developing countries to bypass inefficient, polluting, and ultimately costly phases of development by jumping straight towards sustainable human development and a better quality of life. In other words, leapfrogging is an opportunity to avoid the inefficient and polluting phases of development that industrialised countries have gone through. The term “leapfrogging” describes the rapid change made by a society or a company to a higher level of development without going through the intermediate stages observed in other cases. This connects with the idea that economic resources for unsustainable, outdated and polluting technologies can be saved and instead invested directly in a sustainable future. Ecological leapfrogging can be an alternative to development-as-catching up. It provides strategies to directly enter the phase of sustainability without going through the resource-intensive production and consumption models of industrial societies.
Source: UNEP
Life Cycle Approach / Perspective
A Life cycle approach reflects the incorporation of life cycle thinking in decision-making or development processes.
Source: UNEP
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) / Environmental (ELCA) / Social (SLCA)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to evaluate the environmental and social performance of products or services along their life cycle.
Under the Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (ELCA), extraction and consumption of resources (including energy), as well as releases to air, water and soil, are quantified through all stages of the life cycle. Their potential contribution to important environmental impact categories is then assessed. These include climate change, toxicity, ecosystem damage and resource base deterioration.
Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) is a social impact assessment technique that aims to assess the social and socio-economic aspects of products and their positive and negative impacts (real and potential impacts) along their life cycle, encompassing extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, re-use, maintenance, recycling, and final disposal.
Source: UNEP
Life Cycle Assessment Management (LCM)
Life cycle management (LCM) is a product management system aimed at minimising the environmental and socio-economic (LCM) burdens associated with an organisation’s product or product portfolio during its entire life cycle and value chain. LCM supports the business assimilation of product policies adopted by governments. This is done by making life cycle approaches operational and through the continuous improvement of product systems.
Source: UNEP
Life Cycle Thinking
Life cycle thinking expands the traditional focus on the production site and manufacturing processes and incorporates various aspects over a product’s entire life cycle from cradle to cradle (i.e. from the extraction of resources, through the manufacture and use of the product, to the final processing of the disposed product).
Source: UNEP
Living Planet Index
The Living Planet Index measures trends in the Earth’s biological Index diversity. It tracks populations of 1,313 vertebrate species – fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals – from all around the world.
Separate indices are produced for terrestrial, marine, and freshwater species, and the three trends are then averaged to create an aggregated index. Although vertebrates represent only a fraction of known species, it is assumed that trends in their populations are typical of biodiversity overall. By tracking wild species, the Living Planet Index is also monitoring the health of ecosystems.
Since 1970 the index has fallen by about 30%. This global trend suggests that we are degrading natural ecosystems at a rate unprecedented in human history.
Source: UNEP
Low Carbon Economy (LCE)
A Low Carbon Economy (LCE) is defined as a new economic, technological and social system of production and consumption to conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, compared with the traditional economic system, whilst maintaining momentum towards economic and social development.
Source: UNEP
Low Carbon Technologies
Existing and emerging industrial technologies, which aim to deliver low or zero carbon emissions when fully developed and implemented.
Source: UNEP
M
Marrakech Process
The Marrakech Process is a global and informal multi-stakeholder platform to promote the implementation of policies and capacity building on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and to support the development of a 10 Year Framework of Programmes on SCP.
Source: UNEP
Material Flow of Analysis (MFA)
In order to function, the global economy depends on a flow of materials that are extracted from the earth, processed via production and consumption processes to meet human needs, and then disbursed as wastes generated by the extraction, production and consumption processes. The most important materials extracted for use are biomass, fossil fuels, ores, industrial minerals and construction minerals. These material flows, which are referred to as the metabolic rate, are measured in tonnes per capita or per unit of GDP (tonnes/$1 billion of GDP). Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is the methodology or accounting framework that has emerged to calculate these material flows. The advantage of MFA is that it makes it possible to quantify resource material flows, i.e. the total amounts extracted, the total amounts used, and the total amount extracted but not used.
Source: UNEP
N
National SCP Programme
National SCP Programme is an umbrella term used to describe the various integrated and strategic approaches that countries take to promoting SCP. These programmes (national, subnational or local) are diverse in nature, are generally elaborated through inter-ministerial collaboration and multi-stakeholder dialogue, and can be composed of national inventories, frameworks of programmes, action plans, and strategies as well as often being treated as a priority issue in other policy frameworks or strategies.
An SCP programme can be developed in a cycle that moves from a national inventory or general catalogue of ongoing SCP activities to the full integration of SCP in a major national level policy framework such as a national sustainable development strategy (NSDS), national environmental action plan (NEAP) or national development plan, including poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP). A framework of programmes can be constructed from a strategic overview of needs for achieving SCP, which highlights priority areas for policy design and implementation. This often leads to the development of sectoral or issue-based programmes or action plans on such topics as sustainable public procurement, energy efficiency and education for SCP. These may be linked to other national strategies or plans. Alternatively, a single integrated programme or action plan focuses more closely on SCP and generally includes objectives, targets and monitoring mechanisms.
Source: UNEP
Non-Renewable Energy
Energy can generally be classified as non-renewable and renewable. Energy Over 85% of the energy used in the world is from non-renewable supplies. Most developed nations are dependent on non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels (coal and oil) and nuclear power. These sources are called non-renewable because they cannot be renewed or regenerated quickly enough to keep pace with their use. Oil, gas and coal are the most commonly used types of non-renewable energy.
Source: UNEP
P
Planetary boundaries
Planetary boundaries define the safe operating space for humanity with respect to the earth’s system and are associated with the planet’s biophysical subsystems or processes. Nine such processes correspond to planetary boundaries:
1. climate change
2. rate of biodiversity loss (terrestrial and marine)
3. interference with the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles
4. stratospheric ozone depletion
5. ocean acidification
6. global freshwater use
7. change in land use
8. chemical pollution
9. atmospheric aerosol loading.
Source: UNEP
Point-source pollution (PS) / Nonpoint-source pollution (NPS)
Point-source pollution (PS) is defined as any contaminant that enters the environment from an easily identified and confined place. Examples include smokestacks, discharge pipes, and drainage ditches.
Nonpoint source pollution (NPS) is harder to identify and harder to address. It is pollution that comes from many places, all at once. They are released in a wide area (ex. acid rain results from the long-range movement of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides combined with water from many factories and power plants)
Source: National Geographic
Polluter Pays Principle (PPP)
The Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) is an environmental policy principle which requires that the costs of pollution be borne by those who cause it. In its original form the Polluter Pays Principle aims at determining how the costs of pollution prevention and control must be allocated: the polluter must pay. Its immediate goal is that of internalising the environmental externalities of economic activities, so that the prices of goods and services fully reflect the costs of production. Today the Principle is a generally recognised principle of international environmental law, and it is a fundamental principle of environmental policy of both the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Community.
Source: UNEP
Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR)
A Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) is an environmental database or inventory of potentially harmful releases to air, water and soil. Also included in the database are wastes transferred for treatment and disposal from the site of their production. In addition to collecting data for PRTRs from stationary (or point) sources such as factories and waste facilities, some PRTRs are designed to include estimates of releases from diffuse sources. Data concerning releases and transfers are provided by the facility, and the type, quantity and affected environmental media must be reported. Data are then made available to the public.
Source: UNEP
Product Standards
A product standard sets out specific characteristics of a product, such as its size, shape, design, functions and performance, or the way it is labelled or packaged before it is put on sale. In certain cases, the way a product is produced can affect these characteristics, and it may then prove more appropriate to draft technical regulations and standards in terms of a product’s process and production methods rather than its characteristics per se.
Source: World Trade Organisation
R
Rebound Effect
The increase in consumption that occurs as a side-effect of the introduction of a more eco-efficient technology which leads to lower cost of products, hence increased demand.
Source: UNEP
Reduce-Reuse –Recycle (3Rs)
The 3R Initiative aims to promote the “3 Rs” (reduce, reuse and recycle) globally so as to build a sound-material-cycle society through the effective use of resources and materials. Agreed upon at the G8 Sea Island Summit in June 2004, it was formally launched at a ministerial meeting in Japan in the spring of 2005.
Reducing means choosing to use things with care to reduce the amount of waste generated. Reusing involves the repeated use of items or parts of items which still have usable aspects. Recycling means the use of waste itself as resources. Waste minimisation can be achieved in an efficient way by focusing primarily on the first of the 3Rs, “reduce,” followed by “reuse” and then “recycle”.
Source: UNEP
Renewable Energy
Energy sources that are, within a short time frame relative to the earth’s natural cycles, sustainable, and include non-carbon technologies such as solar energy, hydropower, and wind, as well as carbon-neutral technologies such as biomass.
Source: UNEP
Resources Efficiency
Resource efficiency is about ensuring that natural resources are Efficiency produced, processed, and consumed in a more sustainable way, reducing the environmental impact from the consumption and production of products over their full life cycles. By producing more wellbeing with less material consumption, resource efficiency enhances the means to meet human needs while respecting the ecological carrying capacity of the earth.
Source: UNEP
Resources
The naturally occurring assets that provide use benefits through the provision of raw materials and energy used in economic activity (or that may provide such benefits one day) and that are subject primarily to quantitative depletion through human use. They are subdivided into four categories: mineral and energy resources, soil resources, water resources and biological resources.
Source: UNEP
S
Services
Economists divide all economic activity into two broad categories: goods and services. Goods-producing industries include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and construction; each of them creates some kind of tangible object. Service industries include everything else: banking, communications, wholesale and retail trade, all professional services such as engineering, computer software development, medicine, non-profit economic activity, and all consumer and government services, including defence and administration of justice. A services-dominated economy is characteristic of developed countries. In less-developed countries most people are employed in primary activities such as agriculture and mining.
Source: UNEP
Sufficiency
The concept of “sufficiency” has emerged over the years in planning and development circles as well as transnational civil society movements as an alternative economic model to consumerism, and a necessary component of sustainable lifestyles. It is a philosophical ideal that offers the possibility of a higher quality of life while simultaneously reducing the human impact on the natural world. Sufficiency challenges the notion that if “some” is good, then “more” must be better; instead, it emphasises “enoughness”. Sufficiency is not about sacrifice, denial, asceticism or doing without; it is about well-being and being well.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Development
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development includes economic, environmental and social sustainability, which are independent and mutually reinforcing pillars, and can be achieved by rationally managing physical, natural and human capital. Poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are overarching objectives of, and essential requirements for, sustainable development.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Consumption and Production
The use of services and related products, which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimising the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Cities
Sustainable cities enable all of their residents to meet their own needs and prosper without degrading the natural world or the lives of other people, now or in the future. A sustainable city would include compact, efficient land use; less automobile use yet with better access; efficient resource use, less pollution and waste; the restoration of natural systems; good housing and living environments; a healthy social ecology; sustainable economics; community participation and involvement; and preservation of local culture and wisdom.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Buildings and Construction (SBC)
The concept “Sustainable Buildings and Construction”, refers to the sustainability performance of buildings along their entire life cycle, including design, materials production, transport, construction, use and maintenance, renovation, deconstruction and recycling. The concept seeks to optimise the performance and reduce negative impacts with regard to use of materials, energy, water and land, as well as to indoor air quality and comfort, and generation of waste, wastewater and air emissions, including greenhouse gases, particulates and other pollutants. The concept applies to new and existing buildings regardless of their location.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture ensures that the basic nutritional requirements of present and future generations are met, while providing a range of economic, social and environmental benefits. It provides durable employment, sufficient income, and decent living and working conditions for all those engaged in agricultural production. It maintains and, where possible, enhances the productive capacity of the natural resource base as a whole, and the regenerative capacity of renewable ressources, without disrupting the functioning of basic ecological cycles and natural balances, destroying the socio-cultural attributes of rural communities, or causing contamination of the environment.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were developed at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012. The purpose was to create a set of global goals related to the environmental, political and economic challenges that we face as humanity.
In 2015 the UN chose 17 objectives which are a universal call to action to respond sustainably against the threat of climate change, having a positive impact on the way we manage our fragile natural resources, promoting peace and inclusive societies, reducing inequalities and contributing to the prosperity of economies.
More information about SDG: UN
Sustainable Development Goals Summit 2023 (SDG Summit 2023)
The high-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the General Assembly will be convened in September 2023.
Heads of State and Government will gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to follow up and review the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
They will carry out a comprehensive review of the state of the SDGs, respond to the impact of multiple and interlocking crises facing the world, and provide high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions leading up to the target year of 2030 for achieving the SDGs.
The Summit will also bring together political and thought leaders from governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, women and youth and other stakeholders.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Economy
A sustainable economy is one in which resources are not used up faster than nature renews them. It also creates a thriving climate for business that balances environmental, social, and economic vitality.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Lifestyles
A “sustainable lifestyle” is a way of living enabled both by efficient infrastructures, goods and services, and by individual choices and actions that minimise the use of natural resources, and generation of emissions, wastes and pollution, while supporting equitable socio-economic development and progress for all.
Creating sustainable lifestyles means rethinking our ways of living, how we buy and how we organise our everyday life. It is also about altering how we socialise, exchange, share, educate and build identities. It is about transforming our societies and living in balance with our natural environment. As citizens, at home and at work, many of our choices on energy use, transport, food, waste, communication and solidarity contribute to building sustainable lifestyles.
Governments have a key role to play by creating the appropriate frameworks and infrastructures (regulatory instruments, technological innovations, new public services) to enable citizens to change. Information and education are essential, as well as the full participation of civil society in the movement and the involvement of the business sector that can develop innovative solutions for sustainable lifestyles.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Products
A product that incorporates environmental and social factors and minimises its impact throughout the life cycle, throughout the supply chain and with respect to the socio-economic surroundings.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Procurement / Green Procurement
Sustainable Procurement is a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment. Sustainable Procurement seeks to achieve the appropriate balance between the three pillars of sustainable development i.e. economic, social and environmental.
• Economic factors include the costs of goods and services over their entire life cycle, such as acquisition, maintenance, operations and end-of-life management costs (including waste disposal) in line with good financial management
• Social factors include social justice and equity; safety and security; human rights and employment conditions
• Environmental factors include emissions to air, land and water, climate change, biodiversity, natural resource use and water scarcity over the whole product life cycle.
Green Procurement is a process whereby organisations take into account environmental elements when procuring goods, services, works and utilities and achieve value for money on a whole life-cycle basis.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Supply Chain / Responsible Sourcing
Responsible sourcing is a voluntary commitment by companies to take into account social and environmental considerations when managing their relationships with suppliers. This strategy is now an integral part of effective supply chain management. As production chains expand, companies of all sizes and sectors are devoting more efforts to managing supply chain risks and building long-term supplier relationships. Improving social and environmental performance in production chains is becoming a major element of this process.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable tourism :
• Makes optimal use of environmental resources that constitute, a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity
• Respects the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserves their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contributes to intercultural understanding and tolerance.
• Ensures viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed. These include stable employment and incomeearning opportunities, social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation.
Source: UNEP
Sustainable Urban Development
Sustainable urban development means the continuing maintenance, adaptation, renewal, and development of a city’s built and natural environment and infrastructure, as well as its economic base, in such a way as to enable it to provide a satisfactory human environment with minimal demands on resources and minimal adverse effect on the natural environment.
Source: UNEP
SustainableTransport / Mobility
Sustainable transport or mobility :
• Allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be met safely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health. • Is affordable, operates efficiently, offers the choice of transport mode, and supports a vibrant economy
• Limits emissions and waste within the planet’s ability to absorb them, minimises consumption of non-renewable resources, limits consumption of renewable resources to the sustainable yield level, reuses and recycles its components, and minimises the use of land and the production of noise.
Sustainable transport involves:
• Urban planning, changing lifestyles and production patterns to reduce the need for transport at the source
• Rethinking transport systems, promoting inter-modality and encouraging the use of the most energy-efficient mode of transport, i.e. wherever possible switch from air to rail, from personal vehicles to public transport or non-motorised transportation
• Improving the fuel efficiency of each mode of transport, and promoting the use of alternative fuels.
Source: UNEP
T
Triple Bottom Line
Triple Bottom Line accounting attempts to describe the social and environmental impact of an organisation’s activities, in a measurable way through the use of environmental sustainability and social responsibility criteria when judging the overall performance of a company, in addition to purely financial considerations.
Source: UNEP
U
United Nations Global Compact
The UN Global Compact was launched in 2000 as a voluntary initiative for the business community to help promote sustainable development through the power of collective action. The Global Compact seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship so that business can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation. Today, many hundreds of companies from all regions of the world, as well as international labour and civil society organisations, are engaged in the Global Compact. They are working to advance ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption and to catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.
Source: UN Global Compact
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012 (UNCSD), or Rio +20
On December 24 2009, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution deciding to hold a United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio +20) in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro.
Twenty years after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992, the objective of UNCSD is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assessing the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development, and addressing new and emerging challenges.
The focus of the conference will include the following themes: a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and the institutional framework for sustainable development. The conference will result in a focused political document.
Source: UN Global Compact
V
Voluntary Simplicity
Voluntary simplicity suggests that there is a declining marginal satisfaction in the pursuit of ever-higher levels of consumption. It points to sources of satisfaction in deliberately and voluntarily avoiding the quest for ever-growing levels of affluence and consumption and making one’s personal and social project the pursuit of other, non-materialistic purposes. Simplifiers gain more satisfaction out of life long learning, public life, volunteering, community participation, sports, cultural activities, and observing or communing with nature.
Source: UNEP
W
Water Footprint
The water footprint is a measure of the impacts of the direct and indirect water consumption associated with all activities in a product’s life cycle. This is especially relevant for water-intensive processes and at locations where water scarcity is a serious problem.
Source: UNEP
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
The World Summit on Sustainable Development, also known as the Johannesburg Summit or Rio +10, took place in South Africa in 2002. At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the international community adopted Agenda 21, an unprecedented global plan of action for sustainable development. Ten years later, the Johannesburg Summit presented an opportunity for the world’s leaders to adopt concrete steps and identify quantifiable targets for better implementing Agenda 21. The Summit brought together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of state and government, national delegates and leaders from all Major Groups to focus
Source: UNEP