Befuddled by sustainability gobbledygook? Cut through the idiolect with our glossary of the latest sustainability catchwords.
This is a fundamental guide for mystifying lingo and sizzling catchphrases, wrought into straightforward, palatable talking points.
If you have any suggestions for new terms in our Jargon Buster, contact us or comment.
KEY CONCEPTS & TERMS FOR SUSTAINABILITY
*Credit to New Oxford Dictionary for some definitions
Active transport
Getting yourself from A to B by walking or cycling. Also includes other physical activities like running, skateboarding and scooting.
Biodegradable
Able to break down and blend back in with the earth, given the right conditions and presence of microorganisms, fungi or bacteria. Ideally, but not always, no toxins are left behind.
Biomimicry
A form of design that seeks sustainable solutions by mimicking nature. The goal is to create products and services that are well adapted to life on Earth over the long-term.
Blue economy
Economic activities that create sustainable wealth from the world’s oceans and coasts.
Business model
The underlying structure of how a company creates, delivers and captures value. In its most simplistic form, it is how a business makes money. Business models can tie to social causes as well.
Business resilience
The ability of an organisation to adapt in a changing environment to enable it to achieve its objectives and prosper.
Business transformation
Making bold and fundamental changes to the way business operates, rather than making incremental step changes to the status quo.
Carbon credit
A generic term for any tradable certificate or permit deemed to allow a company, within an emissions trading scheme, to emit one tonne of CO2 equivalent. This covers CO2 or any of the other greenhouse gases.
Carbon emissions
A term often used in place of greenhouse gas emissions (as described below)
Carbon footprint
The emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon equivalent) from an individual or organization. If x company emits y tons of carbon every year, y is the carbon footprint of x.
Carbon neutral
Companies that are ‘carbon neutral’ achieve net zero carbon emissions. That means the given company offsets the amount of carbon they produce by removing carbon emissions elsewhere, or purchasing carbon credits.
Be careful when a company says they “aim to be carbon neutral by”. Double check to see if they have a clear plan.
Carbon offset
Carbon offsets refer to the reduction of carbon emissions through the purchasing of credits or use of carbon trading schemes. For example, if Company X emits 1 million tons of carbon every year, but purchase 1 million tons worth of carbon credits (which would effectively remove the equivalent from the atmosphere), then Company X can claim to be carbon neutral without changing their business model.
Carbon sequestration
The capture and storage of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, for example by planting trees. Whales are also carbon sinks.
Carbon positive
Any activity deemed to reduce and/or offset more emissions than it produces.
Circular economy
In a customary linear economy, the process takes the form of ‘make, use, dispose’. In contrast, in a circular economy, waste and pollution are designed out, products and materials are kept in use and natural systems are regenerated. i.e. when the product lifecycle is complete, you must repurpose that material back into the production phase.
Clean capitalism
An economic system in which prices incorporate social, economic and ecological benefits and costs, and actors know the full impacts of their marketplace actions.
Climate action
Activities to tackle climate change and its impacts, usually by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change
A long-term shift in global weather patterns or average temperatures. Scientific research shows that, compared with climate change patterns throughout Earth’s history, the rate of temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution is extremely high. Rising temperatures can lead to extreme weather such as droughts, sea level rises and retreating glaciers.
Climate resilience
How well can a socio-ecological system mitigate climate risk? Opposed to sustainability, which aims to create more climate resilient systems, climate resilience itself studies the capacity of existing systems to handle stresses and maintain functionality imposed by climate risk.
Closed loop
A closed loop economy is the most sustainable form of production-consumption. Similar to a circular economy, in a closed loop, the input used to create a product is the same as the output.
Collective Impact
Cross-sector coordination to bring about large-scale change.
Compostable
Given the right conditions, a material that breaks down completely into non-toxic components that can support plant growth.
Conscious capitalism
A free-market economy that seeks to mutually benefit both people and environment.
Conscious consumerism
Consumers voting with their wallet – purchasing products and services that are produced responsibly.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
A management concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business model, or employee culture.
Cradle to cradle
This is another way of phrasing ‘circular economy’. The same product is used to create a new product, instead of manufacturing a product from scratch.
Crowd funding
The joint effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually online, to support a wide variety of activities including start-up company funding, disaster relief and campaigns.
Deforestation
Deforestation occurs when a forested area is altered for non-forestry purposes. It can be particularly detrimental to the environment because 1) the altered land usually outputs carbon 2) with less trees, that area is less capable of absorbing carbon dioxide.
Doughnut economics
An economic theory, represented by a doughnut-shaped diagram, for operating within the boundaries of social and environmental sustainability.
Ecological Footprint
The impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.
A person’s ecological footprint measures how much natural resources he or she uses in his/her daily life and how much land his/her lifestyle requires.
Understanding which aspects of your lifestyle have the greatest footprint can help us make changes to reduce our foot-print on the Earth.
Ecological or nature restoration
Assisting an ecosystem to recover to a previous, more biodiverse condition. When an ecosystem is damaged, ecological restoration is the process that tries to artificially restore the ecosystem back to its original form. However, this is an intricate process. Research suggests that once an ecosystem is harmed, it is nearly impractical to restore it back to its earlier form. Nonetheless, ecological restoration is still a vitally essential process.
Ecological or nature regeneration
Improving ecological health and biodiversity by enabling, supporting and enhancing natural processes.
Electric vehicle
A vehicle that runs on electricity powered by a battery that can be plugged in to recharge. A vehicle that uses a battery and conventional engine is called a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
A tool that puts a price on emissions of greenhouse gases with the aim of reducing them. For instance, Kenya announced its intention to set up an ETS that will allow companies and other bodies to buy emissions allowances units to cover their emissions. These businesses will pass on these costs to their customers. The ETS provides an incentive to reduce emissions. It is one of the government’s main tools to meet our emissions target under the Paris Agreement.
E-waste
Discarded electronic appliances such as mobile phones, computers, and televisions.
Environmental management systems
A set of processes and practices that enable an organisation to reduce its environmental impacts. The most commonly used framework is the one developed by the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) for the ISO 14001 standard.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG)
ESG principles or programs are all over the place. Sometimes we use ESG interchangeably with CSR.
ESG refers to a business strategy that encompasses an environmental cause, social cause, and self-governing body in leadership that holds the company accountable.
Ethical or sustainable investment
The avoidance of investment in activities considered unethical and unsustainable, in favour of those that are either considered less harmful, benign or socially and environmentally positive.
Fair trade
An alternative approach to conventional trade, based on a partnership between producers and consumers, to ensure that farmers and workers get a fair share of the benefits of trade. In less regulated markets like West Africa, corporations sometimes take advantage of producers and underpay or exploit trade.
Fair trade ensures a fair partnership between producers (e.g. farmers) and the manufacturers (e.g. corporations). One example of where fair trade plays a vital role is horticultural subsector in Kenya.
Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is a renewable energy form derived from hot water or steam within the earth. It usually creates electricity. For instance, Kenya is the eighth largest georthermal energy producer in the world and reliews on geothermal steam for 38% of its power-a greater proportion more than any other nation.
Global warming
An increase in the world’s average temperature due to human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Global warming has always occurred in Earth’s history, but we are primarily concerned with anthropogenic global warming.
That defines how human behavior impacts the speed and intensity of Earth’s heating.
Humans are impacting the environment in unprecedented ways and the rapid changes are affecting the natural ecological processes (e.g., ice reflects heat out of the atmosphere and back into space) that would normally balance such changes.
Greenhouse gases/effect
Gases that trap and build up heat in the atmosphere (near earth’s surface). These comprise carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapour.
When these greenhouse gases li are emitted, less heat jumps back into space. Some of it is re-radiated back to Earth’s surface, increasing the temperature of the lower atmosphere.
Greenwashing
Activities, usually marketing, intended to make people misleadingly believe a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is. Such services/products are portrayed as “green” or “eco-friendly” to increase sales. More people are increaswingly conscious about environmental issues, and it is easy to throw a green label with some words like “natural” and create the perception that a product may be positive for the environment.
Hybrid vehicle
A vehicle primarily powered by a conventional internal combustion engine, but supplemented with power from regenerative braking. For instance, Toyota Prius are Honda Fit are excellent examples of hybrid vehicles in Kenya.
Integrated reporting
An approach to corporate reporting that incorporates financial information and non-financial (e.g. sustainability) information into a single document to show how a company is performing.
Life cycle assessment (LCA)
The process of attempting to measure the environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its existence.
Microfinance
A source of financial services for individuals or small businesses lacking access to traditional banking services. It can be a sustainable means of poverty alleviation by empowering entrepreneurs to build businesses, support their families and transform their communities. Microfinance institutions are a key aspect of the Kenyan economy. In 2020, 14 microfinance institutions operated in the country.
Microplastics
Small pieces of plastic, less than 5mm in length, found on land and water as a result of plastic pollution.
Modern slavery
An umbrella term for extreme forms of exploitation like human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices, such as servitude, forced labour, forced marriage, the sale and exploitation of children, and debt bondage.
Nature-based solutions
Solutions that are inspired and supported by nature and that may also offer environmental, economic and social benefits, while increasing resilience.
Natural capital
The world’s stock of natural ‘assets’, including geology, soil, air, water and all living things.
Natural Resources
Materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain, for instance, products. Natural resources refer to materials we harvest, use, and rely on to fuel all types of lifestyles. Natural resources can be found in more rural areas that rely on basic materials like wood for shelter… but also in industrialised areas with commercial farms and factories. Even your mobile phone uses natural resources.
Net Zero Carbon
Refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atomosphere. We reach netzero when the amount we add is no more than the amount taken away
Organic
(Of food or famring methods) produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals.
Paris Agreement
A legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by more than 190 countries in 2015. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2°, preferably to 1.5° Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.
Product stewardship
A concept where businesses take responsibility for the environmental impact of the products they make, sell or buy. This involves all stages of the product’s life cycle, including end-of-life management.
Recycling
Processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away and turning them into reusable material. In closed loop recycling materials from a product are recycled to make the same, or a similar, product without significant degradation or waste. This can be done repeatedly. In open loop recycling materials from a product are used to make a different type of product.
Recyclable
A product or material that can be collected, processed and manufactured into a new product.
Remanufacturing
Rebuilding a product to its original specifications using a combination of reused, repaired and new parts.
Reforestation
Planting trees where a forest was previously held, but had been removed for commercial purposes.
Renewable Resources/Energy
Energy that comes from natural sources that are constantly replenished like wind, water and sunlight.
Science-based targets
Targets for reducing emissions are considered ‘science-based’ if they are in line with what the latest climate science deems necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Shared value
A management principle that seeks market opportunities for business to solve social problems. ‘Creating Shared Value’ was first introduced in the Harvard Business Review in 2011, based on the principle that the competitiveness of a company and the health of the communities around it are mutually dependent.
Sharing economy
A system whereby consumers share access to products or services, rather than having individual ownership. Examples include Airbnb, which matches people who have a place or space to rent with people looking for a place to stay.
Social capital
The collective value of all social networks; the links and shared values in society that enable individuals and groups to work together.
Solar energy
Solar energy is energy derived from the sun. Solar panels are used to absorb the Sun’s radiation. This type of energy is captured, stored and regenerated into the electricity grid. Solar energy is increasingly common in places like Kenya and Africa, in general, due to warmer climates.
Social enterprise
Businesses that operate to tackle social problems, improve communities or the environment. They reinvest their profits back into the business or community.
Supply chain
A network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. In Sustainability 101 terms, we want to ensure a supply chain has the lowest environmental impact possible. In the case of a laptop:
A supply chain, for instance, begins in the Kolwezi cobalt mine region of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to gather the materials for integrated parts. There are about 66 individual minerals used creation of a computer.
Next, we go to the manufacturing process where the computer takes it shape.
Then, the post-production process begins. The computer is integrated with software.
Now the laptop is shipped to the distributor and thereafter it is stocked by the retailer.
Finally, the laptop is taken home by an end user.
Sustainability
Balance of society, economy and environment for long-term resilience. It involves creating a system of permanence; a structure where people, planet and profit can live in harmony without compromising one or the other. Over time, this word has gained popularity with mainstream media and become a buzzword for many industries.
Sustainable business
A business that is economically viable, socially responsible and environmentally conscious.
Sustainable design
Designing products, services and the built environment in keeping with principles of sustainability.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
A collection of 17 interlinked global goals designed to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. They were adopted by the UN in 2015.
Sustainable procurement
Decisions when buying products and services that include social and environmental factors along with price and quality.
Systems thinking
An approach to problem-solving that views ‘problems’ as part of a wider, dynamic system. It is the process of understanding how things influence one another as part of a whole.
Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
An international organisation created in 2015 to develop consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures for use by companies, banks, and investors in providing information to stakeholders.
Triple bottom line
A term derived from People, Planet and Profit. The phrase was first coined by John Elkington in 1994, describing the separate but interdependent financial, social and environmental ‘bottom lines’ of companies. Businesses of all sizes incorporate a triple bottom line strategy – a business strategy that prioritizes people, planet and profit equally. These businesses may encourage proper healthcare and maternity leave for employees, emphasize sustainable practices in their operations, and tie social causes into their business. These businesses also retain a profit, and are important examples of how business and environment can work hand-in-hand.
Value chain
A business model that describes the full range of activities needed to create a product or service.
Value proposition
The consumer value derived from a product, service or organization. For example, using recycled materials is a value-prop for climate-conscious consumers.
Waste stream
The complete flow of a specific type of waste from domestic or industrial areas through to recovery, recycling or disposal.
Wind energy
Wind energy is created through wind turbines. This energy is collected through motion from heavy winds in areas with open land (less trees = more wind). This renewable form of energy has become increasingly common over the last few decades, but is far from perfect. Turbines are clunky, require tonnes of precious metal, and can have a negative impact on surrounding wildlife. Still, this clean energy is abundant and there is much room for innovation.
Zero carbon
A term sometimes used to describe a product or service that creates no CO2 or greenhouse gas emissions during production and/or operation.
Zero waste
A target of sending no waste for disposal via landfill or burning.