Baseline year:
A reference point in time against which emission reductions in the future are measured. Baseline emissions refer to the production of greenhouse gases that have occurred in the past and which are being produced prior to the introduction of any strategies to reduce emissions. The baseline measurement is determined over a set period of time, typically one year. In TRACE you can use your first event as your baseline event. Or your first year of measurement as your baseline year.
BEP:
An ‘Environmental Breakeven Point’ is the level of use at which an alternative product, material or service will result in an equal environmental impact to the original product, material or service. E.g. a reusable polypropylene (PP) cup or bottle will achieve a BEP equivalent to their single-use plastic equivalents at approximately five or six reuses. Each subsequent reuse of an item beyond this BEP will result in a continually lower environmental impact vs. the single use.
Biodegradable Plastic:
Petroleum-based plastics with a chemical additive that makes them break down more quickly than regular plastics. They cannot be recycled and in order to break down must be industrially composted in a suitable machine - typically taking at least two months. However, there are only 18 sites in the UK capable of breaking down these plastics and so reduction should be your priority, especially in cases where you can’t confirm the end of life for the material.
Bioplastic (Durable):
Durable bioplastics are made from 70% petroleum and 30% plant-based ethanol.
They do not decompose and they can be recycled with regular PET containers.
Bioplastic (PLA):
Organic plastics derived from biomass such as corn starch or wheat. Similarly to biodegradable plastics, they cannot be recycled and must be industrially composted.
Biofuels:
Any fuel that is derived from biomass, i.e. plant / algae material or animal waste. As these feedstock materials are replenishable, biofuels are considered to be a source of renewable energy. Examples include bioethanol (often made from corn or sugarcane), biodiesel (sourced from vegetable oils and liquid animal fats), green diesel (derived from algae and other plant sources), and biogas (methane derived from animal manure and other digested organic material).
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS):
A combination of technologies designed to prevent the release of CO2 generated through conventional power generation and industrial production processes by injecting the CO2 in suitable underground storage reservoirs.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2):
A water-soluble gas that occurs naturally in the air. Trees and plants convert CO₂ into energy and oxygen. Humans also cause CO₂ emissions, such as by burning petroleum, coal, and natural gas. In the atmosphere, the gas obstructs the radiation emitted by the Earth from escaping into space.
Carbon Footprint:
Total carbon emissions generated by a company, individual or action. You can calculate your organisation’s overall carbon footprint, and those of individual events, using TRACE.
Carbon Negative:
Carbon negative means, in effect, that you emit less than zero CO2/CO2e. However, since it is impossible to emit a negative amount of carbon, being carbon negative refers to the net emissions you create. To be carbon negative means to offset more carbon, through carbon capture, sequestration, or avoidance, than you contribute to the environment.
Carbon Neutral:
Carbon neutral means that any CO2 released into the atmosphere from a company's activities is balanced by an equivalent amount being removed.
Carbon Offsetting:
The act of compensating for CO2e arising from our activity by participating in schemes designed to make an equivalent reduction of CO2e from the atmosphere. Offsets are measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).
Carbon Positive:
Refers to the ‘normal’ state, business as usual. Where a business produces carbon emissions that are above zero. All businesses and individuals with a carbon footprint are carbon positive.
Carbon Sequestration:
The process of storing carbon in a carbon sink. CO2 is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological, chemical, and physical processes.
Carbon Sink:
A carbon sink is any reservoir, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby lowers the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Globally, the two most important carbon sinks are vegetation and the ocean.
Climate Change:
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. However, since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change. Primarily through the burning of fossil fuels, humans have contributed to a sharp increase in global warming, resulting in regional and seasonal temperature extremes, reducing snow cover and sea ice, intensifying heavy rainfall and wildfires and changing habitat ranges for plants and animals - expanding some and shrinking others.
Closed Loop
Closed-loop recycling is the process by which a product or material can be used and then turned into a new product indefinitely without losing its properties during the recycling process.
Circular Economy:
The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended. In practice, it implies reducing waste to a minimum. When a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy wherever possible. These can be productively used again and again, thereby creating further value.
CO2e:
‘Carbon dioxide equivalent’ or CO2e is a term for describing different greenhouse gases in a common unit. For any quantity and type of greenhouse gas, CO2e signifies the amount of CO2 which would have the equivalent global warming impact. A quantity of GHG can be expressed as CO2e by multiplying the amount of the GHG by its global warming potential (GWP). E.g. if 1kg of methane is emitted, this can be expressed as 25kg of CO2e (1kg CH4 * 25 = 25kg CO2e).
Emissions:
Emissions are one of the driving forces behind global warming. They are particles, substances, or radiation released into the atmosphere. Emissions can occur naturally, such as soot from volcanic eruptions or CO₂ from forest fires. There are also anthropogenic emissions that are caused by human activity. These include particulate matter, CO₂ and fluorinated gases from traffic as well as from heat and power generation, and also methane from livestock farming.
Energy-efficiency:
Energy efficiency means using less energy to get the same job done – and in the process, cutting energy bills and reducing pollution. Many products, homes, and buildings use more energy than they actually need, through inefficiencies and energy waste.
Green Energy Tariff:
An energy tariff sets the pricing and the source of your energy. A green tariff is where some or all of the energy that you use is matched in the creation of energy via verified renewable courses. These could come from a variety of renewable energy sources such as wind farms and hydroelectric power stations.
Freight:
Goods transported in bulk by train, truck, ship or aircraft.
GHG Protocol:
GHG Protocol establishes comprehensive global standardised frameworks to measure and manage GHG emissions from private and public sector operations, value chains and mitigation actions. GHG Protocol supplies the world's most widely used GHG accounting standards. The Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard provides the accounting platform for virtually every corporate GHG reporting program in the world.
Greenhouse Effect:
The natural warming of the earth results when gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun that would otherwise escape into space. While 30% of the solar energy that reaches our world is reflected back to space, approximately 70% passes through the atmosphere to the earth’s surface, where it is absorbed by the land, oceans, and atmosphere, and heats the planet. This heat is then radiated back up in the form of invisible infrared light. While some of this infrared light continues on into space, around 90% gets absorbed by atmospheric gases, known as greenhouse gases, and redirected back toward the earth, causing further warming. The greenhouse effect warms the planet to its comfortable average of 15℃, maintaining ideal conditions for life on earth. Without it, the world would be a frozen, uninhabitable place.
Greenhouse Gas:
Greenhouse gases absorb and emit radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the Earth’s atmospheric greenhouse effect. E.g. Water vapour (H2O), Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N 2O), Ozone (O3), Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
Greenwashing:
The creation or propagation of an unfounded or misleading environmentalist image.
GRI Standards
The GRI standards are designed to enable organisations of any size to report on their impacts on the economy, environment and people in a comparable. These can help to increase transparency on your contributions to sustainable development and enable better collaboration. They are split into universal standards and more industry-specific sector standards.
Incineration:
The destruction of something, often waste, by burning. This, in turn, generates energy and often waste get diverted from landfill to produce electricity via incineration.
Linear economic model:
A linear economy traditionally follows the ‘take-make-dispose’ paradigm. This means that raw natural materials are extracted, and then transformed into products that are used until they are finally discarded as waste. Value is created in this economic system by producing and selling as many products as possible. As Earth’s natural resources are finite, this model is by its very nature unsustainable.
Landfill:
Disposing of waste by putting it into a pile and covering it with dirt and other materials. Landfilling effectively mummifies the material, as very little decomposition can occur due to the lack of air circulation and sunlight. This process does not recover any material, except in very few exceptions where landfills may syphon off methane gas for energy use.
Landfill to incineration:
Incineration (or Waste-to-Energy/W2E) is the process by which waste materials are burned or gasified. Depending on the product, this process may or may not generate fuel or energy. The original product is destroyed during this process as the high temperatures break down material at the molecular level.
Methane (CH4):
Methane is a greenhouse gas that is found in small quantities in the atmosphere. Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Methane is approximately 25 times more harmful to the climate than CO₂. While its average lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter at around 12.4 years, methane has a very powerful warming effect over a short period of time. More than 63 percent of methane emissions are produced in agriculture, during soil cultivation and fertilisation, or by livestock farming. In the atmosphere, CH₄ is eventually converted into carbon dioxide through various reactions.
Net Zero:
Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of your organisation’s entire value chain to as close to zero as possible, whilst offsetting any remaining unavoidable emissions. To achieve Net Zero, most companies will need to reduce 90% of their emissions by 2050, with an interim reduction target of 50% by 2030. These science-based targets are designed to limit global warming to within 1.5°C. It is not possible to achieve Net Zero without assessing and reducing Scope 3 emissions - the majority of your organisation’s impact.
Nose-to-tail:
An approach to animal ingredients which minimises waste through using as much of the animal as possible including secondary cuts, organs, skin, fat and bones for broth.
Race to Zero:
Race To Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, and investors for a healthy, resilient, zero-carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.
Recycling:
Recycling is the process of recovering material from waste and turning it into new products. The original product is destroyed in this process, usually through a melting process.
Renewable Energy:
Energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat.
Scopes:
Refer to where the responsibility in relation to your business lie. They are broken down into Scopes 1, 2 and 3. For more information see our ‘What do scopes mean for me’ article.
Upcycling:
Upcycling means to use a certain material again, but in a manner different from what it was originally intended for. The original product is left mostly intact, utilising its shape, form, and material for a different purpose.
Zero Carbon:
Causing or resulting in no net release of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Zero Waste:
The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.