Sustainability Glossary

The system for tracking sustainability outcomes. Monitoring collects data (satellite, sensors, surveys). Reporting structures data for disclosure. Verification provides independent assurance that claims are accurate. Essential infrastructure for credible sustainability claims and carbon/biodiversity markets.

A reporting principle requiring companies to disclose both: (1) how sustainability issues affect the company financially (financial materiality / outside-in), and (2) how the company impacts society and environment (impact materiality / inside-out). Core to CSRD and ESRS. Contrasts with single materiality used in US frameworks.

GHG Protocol categories for corporate emissions. Scope 1: direct emissions from owned/controlled sources. Scope 2: indirect emissions from purchased energy. Scope 3: all other indirect emissions in the value chain (upstream and downstream). Scope 3 typically represents 70-90% of corporate footprints.

A framework for organisations to report and act on nature-related risks and opportunities. Mirrors TCFD structure (Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, Metrics & Targets) but focuses on nature dependencies and impacts. Voluntary but increasingly expected by investors and regulators.

The principle that an intervention (project, investment, or action) creates outcomes that would not have occurred without it. Critical for carbon credits, biodiversity credits, and impact claims. A project is "additional" if the emission reductions or conservation outcomes go beyond business-as-usual.

A framework for addressing complex sustainability challenges at a geographic scale larger than individual farms or projects but smaller than entire regions. Involves multi-stakeholder governance, collective goals, and coordinated action across sectors. The ISEAL Core Criteria define credible landscape approaches.

Actions that protect, sustainably manage, or restore ecosystems while addressing societal challenges like climate change, food security, or disaster risk. Examples: reforestation, wetland restoration, regenerative agriculture, mangrove protection. Distinct from engineered solutions.

The variety of life on Earth at all levels: genetic diversity within species, species diversity within ecosystems, and ecosystem diversity across landscapes. Measured through species richness, abundance, and functional diversity. Foundation of ecosystem resilience and services.

The benefits that nature provides to people. Categorised as: Provisioning (food, water, materials), Regulating (climate, water purification, pollination), Cultural (recreation, spiritual value), and Supporting (nutrient cycling, soil formation). The economic framing of nature's value.

The stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources (plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals) that combine to yield a flow of benefits to people. One of five capitals in the Capitals Framework (alongside Human, Social, Manufactured, Financial). The asset base from which ecosystem services flow.

Nine Earth system processes with scientifically-defined thresholds. Crossing these boundaries risks triggering abrupt or irreversible environmental change. The nine: Climate Change, Biosphere Integrity, Land-System Change, Freshwater Change, Biogeochemical Flows, Ocean Acidification, Atmospheric Aerosols, Ozone Depletion, Novel Entities. Six are already transgressed.