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Latest industry developments:
• News & Trends |
Getting started in corporate sustainablity:
• Resource List |
Energy Audit, Waste Audit, Water Audit
Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation
Carbon Footprint, Sustainable Manufacturing
Cost Saving, Cost Cutting, Eco Green Strategy
Green hotels, Manufacturing & Food Service, Green Assisted Living, Green Commercial
Clean Technology Consulting, Green Strategy Implementation, Environmentally Preferred Purchasing
Social Compliance Programs, Sustainable Supply Chain
Energy Audit, Waste Audit, Water Audit
Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation
Carbon Footprint, Sustainable Manufacturing
Cost Saving, Cost Cutting, Eco Green Strategy
Green hotels, Manufacturing & Food Service, Green Assisted Living, Green Commercial
Clean Technology Consulting, Green Strategy Implementation, Environmentally Preferred Purchasing
Social Compliance Programs, Sustainable Supply Chain
Energy Audit
Waste Audit
Water Audit
Energy Efficiency
Water Conservation
Carbon Footprint
Sustainable Manufacturing
Cost Saving
Cost Cutting
Eco
Green Strategy
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Our glossary of environment and sustainability related terms is a great way to get started learning about the concepts we work with.
A
Accountability: being answerable to all stakeholders, including any natural or social systems affected by a business such as customers, employees, and communities.
Action Plan: After an organisation conducts baseline assessments of its resource use (for example, its water or energy consumption), an action plan is created to outline the specific steps an organisation can undertake to improve its resource efficiency and reduce its environmental impact. These actions can include product lifecycle analysis, supply chain analysis, delamping, advanced recycling initiatives, or behavioural changes, amongst many others.
Anaerobic Digestion: A biological process that produces a gas principally composed of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). These gases are produced from organic wastes such as livestock manure, food processing waste, etc. The first step is the decomposition (hydrolysis) of plant or animal matter. This step breaks down the organic material to usable-sized molecules such as sugar. The second step is the conversion of decomposed matter to organic acids. And finally, the acids are converted to methane gas.
Anthropogenic: Human made. In the context of greenhouse gases, anthropogenic refers to emissions that are produced as the result of human activities.
Appreciative Inquiry:a philosophy of organizational assessment and change that seeks examples of success to emulate and organizational or personal strengths to build upon, rather than focusing upon fixing negative or ineffective organizational processes.
B
Baseline Assessment: Conducted in order to determine the current production and resource efficiency of an organization; including specific energy, water and waste assessments. The baseline assessment will be used in the future to determine how effective various aspects of an action plan have been in terms of improving resource efficiencies.
Best Practice: an effective, innovative solution, process, or procedure that demonstrates a business’ dedication to making progress in environmental and corporate social responsibility; sometimes shared with collaborators and competitors to shape standards for an industry.
Biodegradable: Material that can be broken down into simpler substances (elements and compounds) by bacteria or other decomposers. Paper and most organic wastes such as animal manure are biodegradable.
Biodiesel: a type of fuel made by combining animal fat or vegetable oil (such as soybean oil or used restaurant grease) with alcohol; biodiesel can be directly substituted for diesel (known as B100, for 100% biodiesel), or be used as an additive mixed with traditional diesel (known as B20, for 20% bio-diesel).
Biomass: living or recently-dead organic material that can be used as an energy source or in industrial production; excludes organic material that has been transformed by geological processes (such as coal or petroleum).
Biomass Energy (Bioenergy, Biofuel): Energy produced by combusting biomass materials such as wood, plants or animal byproducts, but excluding materials which has been transformed by geological processes. The carbon dioxide emitted from burning biomass may not increase total atmospheric carbon dioxide if this consumption is done on a sustainable basis (i.e., if in a given period of time, regrowth of biomass takes up as much carbon dioxide as is released from biomass combustion). Biomass energy is often suggested as a replacement for fossil fuel combustion.
Biomimicry: a science that studies natural processes and models in order to imitate the designs to solve human problems, i.e. studying a leaf to better understand and design solar cells.
Brown Power/Energy: electricity generated from the combustion of nonrenewable fossil fuels (coal, oil, or natural gas) which generates significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
Brownfield: land previously utilized by commercial or industrial facilities that remains abandoned with known or perceived environmental contamination.
Building Related Illness (BRI): The term "building related illness" (BRI) is used when symptoms of diagnosable illness are identified and can be attributed directly to airborne building contaminants.
C
Calvert: an investment firm that highlights socially responsible investing and publishes an annual index of the largest U.S. companies that represent socially responsible investments.
Cap and Trade System: a strategy to reduce carbon emissions via financial incentives; “caps” establish emissions limits and fines for exceeding those limits, while companies operating below their carbon limits can sell or “trade” their offsets to companies that are operating above the limits.
Carbon Equivalent: A metric measure used to compare the emissions of different greenhouse gases based upon their global warming potential (GWP). Greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. are most commonly expressed as "million metric tons of carbon equivalents" (MMTCE). Global warming potentials are used to convert greenhouse gases to carbon dioxide equivalents - they can be converted to carbon equivalents by multiplying by 12/44 (the ratio of the molecular weight of carbon to carbon dioxide). The formula for carbon equivalents is: MMTCE = (million metric tons of a gas) * (GWP of the gas) * (12/44).
Carbon Footprint: the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted directly or indirectly through any human activity, typically expressed in equivalent tons of either carbon or carbon dioxide.
Carbon Sequestration (Carbon Sink): Carbon reservoirs and conditions that take-in and store more carbon (i.e., carbon sequestration) than they release, for example forests and oceans are large carbon sinks. Carbon sequestration technology prevents carbon from escaping into the atmosphere by developing man-made carbon sinks in order to partially offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon Trading: a trading system for countries, companies and individuals designed to offset carbon emissions from one activity with another, whereby those who cannot meet their emissions goals may purchase credits from those who surpass their goals.
Cause-related Marketing: a business strategy whereby a company aligns its mission and goals to create a specific and tailored partnership with a nonprofit organization or cause.
Child Labor: the practice of employing children under a specified legal minimum age as set by a country or government; more frequently exploited in developing countries in order to establish competitive labor costs.
Clean Air Act:federal legislation passed in 1970 and amended in 1990 that authorizes the EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards and to regulate industry in order to meet those maximum emissions levels.
Clean Production: a concept developed under the Kyoto Protocol in which manufacturing processes reduce environmental impact and decrease ecological problems by minimizing energy and raw materials use, and making sure emissions and waste are as minimal and as non-toxic to environmental and human health as possible.
Clean Water Act: federal legislation passed in 1972 and amended in 1976 that requires the EPA to set maximum pollutant levels for each known contaminant in U.S. surface waters and authorizes the EPA to regulate industrial discharge in order to meet those standards.
Climate Change: changes in global climate patterns (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) that last for extended periods of time as a result of either natural processes or human activity; the contemporary concern is that human activity is now transcending natural processes in causing the most prevalent climate changes of our time.
Closed-loop Recycling: a process of utilizing a recycled product in the manufacturing of a similar product or the remanufacturing of the same product.
Closed-loop Supply Chain: an ideal in which a supply chain completely reuses, recycles or composts all wastes generated during production; at minimum "closed-loop supply chain" indicates that the company which produces a good is also responsible for its disposal.
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund): federal legislation passed in 1980 that established a tax on the petroleum and chemical industries to fund cleanup of hazardous waste sites, as well as establishing EPA authority to assign responsibility for that cleanup to the polluters or purchasers of contaminated land.
Corporate Citizenship: a company’s responsible involvement with the wider community in which it is situated.
Corporate Health: the idea that companies, especially commercial businesses, have a duty to care for all of their stakeholders in all aspects of their operations.
Corporate Responsibility Report: a periodically-published report of a company’s corporate responsibility practices, goals, and progress toward achieving those goals that may be included with the company’s annual report or as a separate publication that focuses on the company’s social and environmental impact; the process of creating this report is meant to uncover strengths and weaknesses as well as enhance transparency for all company stakeholders; see Corporate Sustainability Report.
Corporate Responsibility: the degree to which companies manage business practices to produce an overall positive impact on society.
Corporate Social Responsibility: the continuing commitment by businesses to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workplace as well as the local community and society at large; a company’s obligation to be accountable to all of its stakeholders in all its operations and activities (including financial stakeholders as well as suppliers, customers, and employees) with the aim of achieving sustainable development not only in the economic dimension but also in the social and environmental dimensions.
Corporate Sustainability Report:
a periodic report published by a company to outline its progress toward meeting its financial, environmental, and social sustainability goals; often published in compliance with third-party standards such as the UN Global Compact or Global Reporting Initiative; see Corporate Responsibility Report.
Cradle-to-Cradle: a design philosophy put forth by architect William McDonough that considers the life-cycle of a material or product, and ensures that the product is completely recycled at the end of its defined lifetime.
D
Demand-Side Management: the implementation of policies that control or influence demand of certain products or services.
Dematerialization: the reduction of total materials used in providing customers with products or services.
Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI): the first global indexes to track the financial performance of sustainability-driven companies.
E
E-waste: Equipment with electrical components, such as computers, printer, cables, etc that is disposed of and ends up in landfill. In most cases electronic waste consists of electronic products that were used for data processing, telecommunications or entertainment in private households and businesses that are now considered obsolete, broken, or irreparable.
Despite their common classification as a waste, disposed electronics represent a considerable supply of secondary resources due to their significant suitability for direct reuse (for example, many fully functional computers and components are discarded during upgrades, as well as mobile phones), refurbishing, and material recycling of their constituent raw materials.
Eco-Efficiency: the creation of more goods and services with fewer resources, producing less waste and pollution.
Eco-friendly:
a product, practice, or process that is “green” or good for the environment, creating no unnecessary or hazardous waste and minimizing use of non-renewable, natural resources.
Ecological Economics: see Natural Capital, Ethical Investments, Environmental Valuation.
Ecological Footprint: the total amount of land, food, water, and other resources used by, or the total ecological impact of, a person or organization’s subsistence; usually measured in acres or hectares of productive land.
Ecological Justice, a.k.a. Ecojustice: the concept that all components of an ecosystem (such as plant and animal life as well as natural resources) have a right to be free from human exploitation and free from destruction, discrimination, bias, or extinction; distinct from Environmental Justice.
Ecosystem:
The complex system of plant, animal, fungal, and microorganism communities and their associated non-living environment interacting as an ecological unit. Ecosystems have no fixed boundaries; instead their parameters are set to the scientific, management, or policy question being examined. Depending upon the purpose of analysis, a single lake, a watershed, or an entire region could be considered an ecosystem.
Emissions:The release of a substance (usually a gas when referring to the subject of climate change) into the atmosphere.
Energy Efficiency: the result of actions taken to reduce dependence on or to save fuels, i.e., selection of road vehicles with higher MPG or the use of renewable sources of power for heating and cooling.
Energy Management System: An energy management system comprises a set of well-planned actions aimed at reducing a company’s energy use (and bills) and increasing productivity. Energy management is a process of continuous improvement and is more effective when policies and procedures are reviewed annually.
Energy Star Rating: ENERGY STAR is an international standard for energy efficient electronic equipment. It was created by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 and has now been adopted by several countries around the world, including Australia. ENERGY STAR reduces the amount of energy consumed by a product by either automatically switching it into a 'sleep' mode when it's not being used and/or reducing the amount of power used when in 'standby' mode.
Environmental Audit: a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of how well a project, organization, individual, or service is performing in terms of environmental impact, including, but not necessarily limited to, compliance with any relevant standards or regulations.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): an assessment of potential environmental effects of development projects; required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for any proposed major federal action with significant environmental impact.
Environmental Justice: the concept of equal access to environmental resources and protection from environmental hazards regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, or income; distinct from Ecological Justice.
Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA): the tracking and rating of environmental risks, such as emissions, associated with a product and its manufacturing.
Environmental Standards: see Standards
Environmental Sustainability: see Sustainability
Environmental Valuation: the inclusion of environmental costs and benefits into accounting practices using such mechanisms as taxes, tax incentives, and subsidies; by quantifying environmentally-related costs and revenues, better management decisions and increased investment in environmental protection and improvement are encouraged.
Environmental, Social and Government (ESG): an acronym commonly used by investment firms to refer to the types of issues or factors considered in measuring a company’s “responsible practices”; these issues or factors include the environmental effects of a company’s business practices, social metrics such as fair pay and treatment of labor and community involvement and ethical corporate governance practices that are both transparent and anti-corruption.
Ethical Investments: see Socially Responsible Investing
F
Fair Trade: an international trading partnership that seeks to help marginalized producers and workers achieve financial self-sufficiency by establishing direct lines of trade between producers and consumers, guaranteeing producers fair prices for goods, restricting exploitative labor processes, and favoring environmentally-sustainable production processes through a system of labeling products as “fair trade”.
Fossil Fuels:fuels, such as natural gas, coal, and petroleum, that formed from the fossilized (or geologically transformed) remains of plants and animals.
G
Geothermal Energy:a natural and sustainable form of heat energy derived from steam and hot water found below the surface of the Earth.
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): a reporting standard generally accepted to be the leading international standard for reporting social, environmental and economic performance.
Global Warming:the gradual, average increase of temperature of the Earth's near-surface atmosphere that is accelerated by the greenhouse gases emitted by human industry; global warming is one type of and a contributor to other types of global climate change in general, such that at individual locations the temperature may fluctuate or drop even though the global average is rising.
Green Accounting:the incorporation of the amount of natural resources used and pollutants expelled into conventional economic accounting in order to provide a detailed measure of all environmental consequences of any and all economic activities.
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 evaluating green buildings is the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
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 use.
Greenhouse Effect:
the trapping of heat within the Earth’s atmosphere by greenhouse gases such as CO2, which is necessary to keep the planet at a temperature warm enough to sustain life, but becomes dangerous when greenhouse gases produced by humans cause the effect to intensify and push the global temperature to too high a level.
Greenhouse Gas: a gas that contributes to the natural greenhouse effect, whereby heat is trapped within the Earth’s atmosphere, including: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.
Greenwashing: the process by which a company publicly and misleadingly declares itself to be environmentally-friendly but internally participates in environmentally- or socially-unfriendly practices.
H
Hydropower: Electrical energy produced by falling or flowing water.
I
Integrated Pest Management (IPM): The coordinated use of current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment with available pest control methods to prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage by the most economical means and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.
The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach can be applied to both agricultural and non-agricultural settings, such as the home, garden, and workplace. IPM takes advantage of all appropriate pest management options including, but not limited to, using mechanical trapping devices, natural predators (e.g., insects that eat other insects), insect growth regulators, mating disruption substances (pheromones), and if necessary, chemical pesticides. The use of biological pesticides is an important component of IPM.. In contrast, organic food production applies many of the same concepts as IPM but limits the use of pesticides to those that are produced from natural sources, as opposed to synthetic chemicals.
Invasive Species:
Invasive species means an alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Invasive species are one of the largest threats to our terrestrial, coastal and freshwater ecosystems, as well as being a major global concern.
ISO 14000:A family of international standards for environmental management that reflects a global consensus on good environmental practice in the international context but can be applied pragmatically by organizations world wide to their particular situation. The ISO 14000 series, currently being developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), is a collection of voluntary standards that assists organizations to achieve environmental and financial gains through the implementation of effective environmental management. The standards provide both a model for streamlining environmental management, and guidelines to ensure environmental issues are considered within decision making practices.
ISO 14001: is the standard for Environment Management Systems. Many large businesses, particularly overseas, have obtained certification under the standard.
ISO 9000: A set of international quality management standards and guidelines that reflect a global consensus on product or service quality in the international context but can be applied by organizations world wide to their particular situation.
K
Kyoto Protocol: an international agreement reached during a summit in Kyoto, Japan in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol builds upon the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and sets targets and timetables for industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions; 175 parties have so far ratified the Protocol and are legally bound to adhere to its principles.
L
LEED Certification: an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design sponsored by the United States Green Building Council that creates standards for developing high performance, sustainable buildings.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): a process of evaluating the effects of a product or its designated function on the environment over the entire period of the product’s life in order to increase resource-use efficiency and decrease liabilities; commonly referred to as “cradle-to-grave” analysis.
LOHAS Market: an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability; a market that consists of mindful consumers passionate about the environment, sustainability, social issues and health.
M
Meta-Trend: a global and overarching force that will affect many multidimensional changes; for example, environmental impacts on business, individuals and countries.
N
Natural Capital: a company’s environmental assets and natural resources existing in the physical environment, either owned (such as mineral, forest, or energy resources) or simply utilized in business operations (such as clean water and atmosphere); often traditional economic measures and indicators fail to take into account the development use of natural capital, although preservation of its quantity and quality and therefore its sustainable use is essential to a business’ long-term survival and growth.
Natural Gas: Underground deposits of gases consisting of 50 to 90 percent methane (CH4) and small amounts of heavier gaseous hydrocarbon compounds such as propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10).
Nonbiodegradable: A substance that cannot be broken down in the environment by natural processes.
Non-Governmental Organization (NGO): a private, non-profit organization that is independent of business and government, that works toward some specific social, environmental, or economic goal through research, activism, training, promotion, advocacy, lobbying, community service, etc.
Non-renewable Resource: a natural resource that is unable to be regenerated or renewed fully and without loss of quality once it is used, i.e., fossil fuels or minerals.
O
Open-Loop Recycling: a recycling process in which materials from old products are made into new products in a manner that changes the inherent properties of the materials, often via a degradation in quality, such as recycling white writing paper into cardboard rather than more premium writing paper; often used for steel, paper, and plastic, open-loop recycling is also known as downcycling or reprocessing.
Organic: a term signifying the absence of pesticides, hormones, synthetic fertilizers and other toxic materials in the cultivation of agricultural products; ‘organic’ is also a food labeling term that denotes the product was produced under the authority of the Organic Foods Production Act.
P
People, Planet, Profit: the expanded set of values for companies and individuals to use in measuring organizational and societal success, specifically economic, environmental and social values; "people, planet, profit" are also referred to as the components of the "triple bottom line"; see Triple Bottom Line.
Photovoltaics: Photovoltaics, or PV for short, is a technology in which light is converted into electrical power. It is best known as a method for generating solar power by using solar cells packaged in photovoltaic modules, often electrically connected in multiples as solar photovoltaic arrays to convert energy from the sun into electricity.
Post-Consumer Materials: Post-consumer material is an end product that has completed its life cycle as a consumer item and would otherwise have been disposed of as a solid waste. Post-consumer materials include recyclables collected in commercial and residential recycling programs, such as office paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastics and metals. Recycled-content products may contain some pre-consumer waste, some post-consumer waste or both. A product does not have to contain 100 percent recovered materials to be considered “recycled,” but clearly the higher the percentage of recycled content, the greater the amount of waste that is diverted from disposal. Always look at the level of post-consumer recycled content in a product.
Preconsumer Content: Percentage of materials salvaged for reuse from the waste stream of a manufacturing process (rather than from consumers) subsequently used to manufacture a product.
R
Recycling: Collecting and reprocessing a resource so it can be used again. An example is collecting aluminum cans, melting them down, and using the aluminum to make new cans or other aluminum products.
Renewable Energy: energy derived from non-fossil fuel resources (such as solar, wind, or geothermal energy) that can be replenished in full without a loss of quality; separate from sustainable energy because of emissions or other unsustainable impacts of the process of creating renewable energy.
Renewable Portfolio Standard: a state policy that requires that state to meet a certain percentage of its energy needs with renewable energy by a certain date.
Responsible Practices: business practices that exemplify corporate responsibility; see Corporate Responsibility.
S
Shareholder Resolution: a corporate policy recommendation proposed by a shareholder holding at least $2,000 market value or 1% of the company's voting shares presented for a vote by other shareholders at the company's annual meeting; an increasing number of shareholder resolutions request a company and/or its board of directors to carry out responsible business practices, especially regarding social, environmental and human rights issues.
Social Entrepreneurship: an entrepreneurial endeavor that focuses on sustainable social change, rather than merely the generation of profit.
Social Responsibility: see Corporate Social Responsibility.
Social Return on Investment (SROI): a monetary measure of the social value for a community or society yielded by a specific investment.
Social Standards: see Standards.
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI): an investment practice that gives preference to companies that value social and environmental impacts in addition to financial gain; socially responsible investments, also known as "ethical investments," involve companies and practices that cause little or no depletion of natural assets or environmental degradation, and that do not infringe the rights of workers, women, indigenous people, children nor animals.
Solar Energy: Direct radiant energy from the Sun. It also includes indirect forms of energy such as wind, falling or flowing water (hydropower), ocean thermal gradients, and biomass, which are produced when direct solar energy interact with the Earth.
Stakeholder Engagement: the ongoing process of soliciting feedback regarding a company’s business practices or major decisions from financial shareholders, as well as individuals or groups effected by corporate environmental or social practices such as suppliers, consumers, employees, and the local community.
Stakeholder: an individual or group potentially affected by the activities of a company or organization; in sustainable business models the term includes financial shareholders as well as those affected by environmental or social factors such as suppliers, consumers, employees, the local community, and the natural environment.
Standards: government or privately-created lists of social and environmental criteria used to regulate or evaluate the corporate responsibility of various companies; examples include the Global Reporting Initiative and UN Global Compact as well as indexes used by socially responsible investment firms such as CERES, Calvert and Domini.
Standby Power: Standby power is the electricity consumed by appliances when they are switched off or not performing their primary function. It's sometimes called leaking, vampire or phantom electricity.
Strategic Philanthropy: a corporate philanthropy or community giving program that maximizes positive impact in the community as well as for the company, including bolstered employee recruitment, retention and a stronger company brand.
Supply-Side Economics: the use of policies such as tax cuts and business incentives to control to supply of certain goods or services.
Sustainability: the successful meeting of present social, economic, and environmental needs without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs; derived from the most common definition of sustainability, created in 1987 at the World Commission on Environment and Development.
Sustainable Design: a process of product, service, or organizational design that complies with the principles of social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
Sustainable Development: development that utilizes tools, supplies and strategies that protect and enhance the earth’s natural resources and diverse eco-systems so as to meet the social and economic needs of the present without compromising the ability to meet the needs of the future.
Sustainable Energy: energy produced both from renewable resources or by use of clean production technology.
T
Tragedy of the Commons: the inherent conflict between individual interests and the common good, based on the assumption that an individual uses a public good without considering the impact of his or her use on the availability of that good, therefore resulting in the over-exploitation of a public resource; the concept is explored in a 1968 essay written by Garrett Hardin.
Transmaterialization: the process of substituting a service for a product in order to meet customer needs while reducing the use of materials and natural resources.
Transparency: a measure of increased accountability and decreased corruption in which a business reports on its ethics and performance results through accessible publication of the business’ practices and behavior; there is a strong movement to increase the transparency of business processes via independently-verified corporate responsibility reporting.
Triple Bottom Line: an expansion of the traditional company reporting framework of net financial gains or losses to take into account environmental and social performance; see People, Planet, Profit.
Triple Top Line: a phrase describing a company’s improved top-line financial performance over the long term due to sustainable business practices, including less capital investment and increased revenues.
U
United Nations Global Compact: an international initiative that seeks to bring businesses together voluntarily in order to promote socially and environmentally responsible practices; signatories pledge to uphold the Compact's 10 Principles.
United States Business Council on Sustainable Development (USBCSD): a non-profit organization promoting sustainable development by establishing networks and partnerships between American companies and government entities; the USBCSD provides a voice for industry and is the U.S. branch of the World Business Council of Sustainable Development.
V
Venture Philanthropy: a charitable giving model that bridges venture capital strategies with philanthropic giving, creating strategic relationships among individuals and nonprofit organizations.
Volatile Organic Compound (VOC): Organic compounds that evaporate readily into the atmosphere at normal temperatures. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) contribute significantly to photochemical smog production and certain health problems.
W
Waste Audit: A process used to determine the composition of a waste stream. It can be useful in terms of identifying contamination rates in recycling systems and identifying the potential to reduce waste to landfill matter in general waste streams.
Waste-to-Energy: a recovery process in which waste is incinerated or otherwise turned into steam or electricity, and used to generate heat, light or power through the process of combustion.
Waste-to-Profit: the process of using one company’s waste or by-product as the input or raw material for another company, thereby increasing business profits and decreasing waste; also referred to as byproduct synergy.
Watershed: The area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, aquifer, or even the ocean.
World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD): an association of 170 international companies that provides business leadership with support to operate, innovate, and grow through sustainable development initiatives that incorporate the "three pillars of economic growth:" environmental protection, social development and economic growth.
Z
Zero Waste: a production system aiming to eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials by conserving or recovering all resources.
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