Glossary of Sustainability Terms

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 human impacts on the environment.

The 'Rio declaration on environment and development' and the 'statement of principles for the sustainable management of forests in Environment and Development', were adopted by more than 178 Governments at the United Nations conference on environment and development held in Rio de Janerio on 3rd - 14th June 1992.

American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers refrigerant number.

Each chemical that can act as a refrigerant is assigned an alphanumeric code beginning with R. This is known as the ASHRAE number.

Developed for gas and electricity supplies not measured by traditional Half Hourly Market (HHM's)

These meters provide users with access to half hourly or hourly data of their energy consumption. As there is a wide range of AMR equipment available CRC will only capture AMR meters which are the main meters measuring the quantity of electricity or gas supplied to the premises, not a sub meter or clip on device. In CRC, AMR meters must be read remotely by customers. Voluntary installation of AMR meters is one of the factors measured in the early action metric .

A concept enabling the measurement of greenhouse gases. The Carbon Trust defines carbon footprint as follows:

A ‘carbon footprint’ measures the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, event or product.

The footprint considers all six of the Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

A carbon footprint is measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). The carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) allows the different greenhouse gases to be compared on a like-for-like basis relative to one unit of CO2. CO2e is calculated by multiplying the emissions of each of the six greenhouse gases by its 100 year global warming potential (GWP).

The two main types of carbon footprint are:

• Organisational

• Product

Emissions over the whole life of a product or service, from the extraction of raw materials and manufacturing right through to its use and final reuse, recycling or disposal.

Climate change agreements relate to the Climate Change Levy (CCL) which was put in place to encourage users to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Change Agreements allow energy intensive business users to receive a discount from the CCL in return for meeting energy efficiency or carbon saving targets.

To prove that wood is sustainably sourced, an audit trail must exist from forest or plantation to retailer.
Each organisation in the chain from source to retail or wholesale must pass the chain of custody requirements.

The most prevalent of the Green House Gases that contributes to climate change.

See also GHGs- Green House Gases.

Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (formerly known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment) is the UK's mandatory climate change and energy saving scheme, due to start in April 2010. It is central to the UK’s strategy for improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008. It has been designed to raise awareness in large organisations, especially at senior level, and encourage changes in behaviour and infrastructure. The schemes amended title serves to better reflect the CRC’s focus on increasing energy efficiency.

DC10plus founded from ten local authority networks and their partners –all finalists in the 2007 government Digital Challenge competition.

DC10plus aims to promote social inclusion through the use of technology. It is a collaborative network of local authorities and their partners dedicated to creating partnerships, sharing best practice and developing new initiatives

Used in the Carbon Reduction commitment (CRC). Participants have to monitor 100% of their energy use over the course of a full year, known as the footprint year.

For the introductory phase the footprint year will be April 2010 to March 2011.

Accelerating the SME - economic engine: through transparent, simple and strategic procurement (HM Treasury, 2008).

Known as the “Glover Report” after the chair of the report panel. A report on how to reduce the barriers facing SMEs in respect of public sector procurement. It offers twelve recommendations under the four headings of Transparency, Simplicity, Strategic Procurement and Measurement, to reduce the barriers confronting SMEs.

An international association of local governments as well as national and regional local government organisations that have made a commitment to sustainable development.

Founded in 1990 as the 'International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives', ICLEI now comprises 1098 cities, towns, counties, and their associations worldwide. ICLEI works with these and hundreds of other local governments through international performance-based, results-oriented campaigns and programs.

ICLEI provides technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level.

International environmental management standard.

ISO14001 is an optional standard for an management tool for companies and other organisations to evaluate and improve their environmental performance.

International sustainable events management standard in development

ISO 20121 derives from the British Standard for sustainable event management BS 8901. As at April 2010 it is at working draft stage.

The National Indicator set which constitutes the indicators for the Local Area Agreements.

The national indicators are the measures on which central Government will performance manage outcomes delivered by local government working alone or in partnership. Not all indicators are reported on in LAAs, although reporting some indicators is mandatory.

Sustainable Procurement National Action Plan.

The UK Government's National Action Plan for Sustainable Procurement published in June 2006. It provides six recommendations, together with the Flexible Framework to achieve sustainable public sector procurement.

Development which takes into account social, economic and environmental issues in balance, not one at the expense of another.

The commonest definition of meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, arising out of the Brundtland Report of 1987, a WCED commissioned report.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive January 2007.

Aims to both reduce the amount of electrical and electronic equipment being produced and to encourage everyone to reuse, recycle and recover it.