Glossary

Term	Abbreviation	Description
Climate change		The set of changes in climate associated with global warming with expected impacts of rising sea levels, more extreme weather events, loss of species and forests and a rise in infectious diseases such as malaria and cholera.
Corporate Social Responsibility	CSR	Integrating social and environmental concerns into operations and engagement with stakeholders. Example interpretations include: "A sustainable approach to business that seeks benefits for customers, employees, communities, the environment, the company and its shareholders" [Scottish Power, 2003] and "A company's positive impact on society and the environment, through its operations, products or services and through its interactions with key stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors, communities and suppliers." [Business in the Community, 2002] There are typically six elements to CSR; Community, Environment, Ethics & Principles, Human Rights, Marketplace and Workforce.
Cradle to Grave		A method of describing the environmental burdens of a product, process or activity on the basis of an inventory of environmental factors from the extraction of raw materials until their final disposal. Environmental factors include the consumption of raw materials and energy and emissions to air and water and solid waste generation.
Design for the Environment	DfE	Design with the objective of minimising environmental impact during a product's lifetime. All aspects of use and production may be examined for improvement, including the sourcing of raw materials, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal.
Ecodesign		See 'Design for the Environment'
Eco-efficiency		"Eco-efficiency is reached 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." [Cleaner production and Eco-efficiency: Complimentary Approaches to Sustainable Development, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and UN Environment Programme, 1998]
Eco-labelling		The labelling of consumer products such as refrigerators, freezers and washing machines to indicate their environmental impact by recognisable measures or conformance to a minimum standard to enable comparison. Environmental labels and declarations may conform to ISO 14020.
Eco-management and audit scheme	EMAS	A voluntary scheme requiring organisations to formulate environmental policies, programmes and management systems to pursue continuous environmental improvements. Regular environmental audits must be conducted and used as the basis for company environmental reports, validated by an accredited verifier. EMAS was established in response to a Regulation from the European Commission in 1993.
Environmental Aspect		An element of an organisation's activities, products or services that can interact with the environment.
Environmental Audit		"A management tool comprising a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of how well environmental organisations, management and equipment are performing with the aim of helping to safeguard the environment" [International Chamber of Commerce]
Environmental Impact		Any change to the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, wholly or partially resulting from an organisations, activities, products or services.
Environmental Management System	EMS	A structured approach to planning and implementing environmental protection measures that enable organisations to measure their environmental performance and regularly evaluate it to review improvements. To develop an EMS, an organisation has to assess its environmental impacts, set targets to reduce those impacts and plan how to achieve those targets. It may choose to seek certification to a recognised standard such as ISO 14001 or EMAS.
Environmental Policy		Statement by an organisation of its intentions and principles in relation to its overall environmental performance which provides a framework for action and for the setting of its environmental objectives and targets.
Environmental Reporting		A public report of an organisation's environmental performance, including its impacts on the environment, its performance in managing those impacts and its contribution to ecologically sustainable development, over a specified period for dissemination to a wide audience, either as a stand-alone report or part of another publication such as an Annual Report. Independent verification can help establish the credibility of a report and a statement that this has been done is often included in the report.
Global warming		The increase in mean surface temperatures which indicate a rising trend largely due to the greenhouse effect. The term is commonly used interchangeably with 'climate change' a more accurate term.
Green design		Design which addresses singular environmental impacts.
Greenhouse effect		The warming effect of gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide which trap the sun's radiation in the lower atmosphere. The greenhouse effect due to human-made emissions should perhaps be called the enhanced greenhouse effect because it augments the energy balance that is needed to preserve life on Earth.
Hazardous waste		Certain types of waste material are designated hazardous by law. All substances can be potentially hazardous, it is the particular circumstances which render a substance or product hazardous.
Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control	IPPC	A system following the European Community Directive (96/91) on integrated pollution prevention which aims to minimise the environmental impacts of a range of industries. In the UK the requirements of the EC Directive are being implemented under a system called Pollution Prevention Control (PPC). IPPC is being introduced on a sector-by-sector basis with the whole regime in place in 2007. The main aim of IPPC is to achieve a high level of protection of the environment taken as a whole by, in particular, preventing or, where that is not practicable, reducing emissions into the air, water and land.
ISO 14001 Environmental management systems – Specification with guidance for use		An international Standard which specifies a management system to control the environmental issues surrounding a business. The system requires the organisation to produce an environmental policy, identify its major environmental effects and all environmental legislation applicable to the organisation; and in the light of this information, produce a series of environmental objectives and targets, and a management programme for achieving these.
Kyoto Protocol		The Kyoto Protocol was adopted by consensus at the third Conference of Parties (COP3) to the Framework Convention on Climate Change heldin Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. Under the protocol, developed countries are legally bound to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but by varying amounts.
Life Cycle Assessment Life Cycle Analysis	LCA	The technique whereby the environmental impacts of a material, process or product are identified and assessed over its entire life-cycle.
Polluter Pays Principle	P3	Principle whereby a producer responsible for pollution has to meet the cost of making good or preventing the damage to the environment.
Pollution Prevention and Control	PPC	A system following the European Community Directive (96/91) on integrated pollution prevention which aims to minimise the environmental impacts of a range of industries. PPC implements the UK the requirements of the EC Directive, taking over from the existing IPC (Integrated Pollution Control) system. The PPC regime replaces the existing legislation under Part 1 of the Environment Protection Act 1990 on a sector-by-sector basis with the whole regime in place in 2007. The main aim of PPC is to achieve a high level of protection of the environment taken as a whole by, in particular, preventing or, where that is not practicable, reducing emissions into the air, water and land.
Producer Responsibility		The principle that places responsibility for the environmental impact associated with a product onto the producers of that product. Producer Responsibility is intended to address cradle to grave environmental problems from initial minimisation of resource use, through extended product life span, to recovery and recycling of products once they have been disposed of as waste. The EC and UK have applied producer responsibility to packaging, vehicles and electrical/ electronic products and are likely to apply it to other products in the future.
Product Stewardship		Assessment of the risks associated with products, and seeking to ensure these risks are properly managed throughout the supply chain through stewardship programmes involving customers, suppliers and distributors.
Quality Function Deployment	QFD	QFD is a helpful quality planning tool, which is used to identify the outputs required by customers, and then trace these outputs to causal inputs which can be controlled by the organisation. This will typically include product design and manufacturing process characteristics. As such, QFD can be used to identify which manufacturing process characteristics are key drivers of product and service quality for the customer.
Resource Depletion		The period reserves are expected to last at current consumption rates, calculated by dividing the mass of each resource flow by the static reserve life.
Risk Assessment		The qualitative and/or quantitative evaluation performed in an effort to define the risk posed to human health and /or the environment which determines (1) what can go wrong, (2) how likely is it to occur, and (3) what are the consequences.
Small and Medium Sized Enterprises	SMEs	SMEs, as defined by the UK Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), have: fewer than 250 employees, and, a turnover of less than €40m (approx. £27m), or, a balance sheet total below €27m (approx. £18m).
Sustainable Design		Design which addresses the social and environmental impacts throughout the product/service lifecycle whilst maintaining economic performance and other criteria, such as function, quality and appearance.
Sustainable Development		"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts: that of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which the overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and future needs." [United Nations Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, 1987]