- Brundtland Commission Report
- report issued after the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development that laid the groundwork for the concept of sustainable development
- business sustainability
- actions taken to sustain the business so that it survives and thrives well into the future
- carbon footprint
- measure of the amount of CO2 generated by an individual, group or organization
- carbon output
- measure of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere
- climate change
- change in climate patterns due to the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is attributed mainly to the usage of fossil fuels
- corporate social responsibility (CSR)
- actions that firms take to assume responsibility for their impact on the environment and social well-being
- environmental sustainability
- situation in which rates of resource use can be continued indefinitely without permanently depleting those resources
- equity issues
- related to the fairness of pay and job promotions, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race or religion
- full-cost accounting
- accounting that recognizes all costs related to the provision of a product or service; this includes all economic, environmental and social costs
- life-cycle accounting
- similar to full-cost accounting, this assesses all costs related to the production of a product from the extraction of raw materials used to the final disposal of the product at the end of its life
- materiality
- how significant an event or issue is to warrant its inclusion or discussion
- non-renewable resources
- resources that, once used, are depleted, and not able to be used again
- P/E ratio
- company’s stock price divided by the company’s earnings per share and indicates the amount investors are willing to pay for one dollar of earnings
- Paris Climate Agreement
- 2015 agreement between 196 nations to strive to limit the increase of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius
- renewable energy
- energy that is not depleted once used, for example, tidal energy, wind energy or solar power
- social contract
- expectation that companies will hold to an unwritten contract with society as a whole
- stakeholder
- person or group with an interest or concern in some aspect of the organization
- sustainability
- meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs by being aware of current economic, social, and environmental impacts
- sustainability report
- report that presents the economic, environmental or social impacts that a corporation or organization was responsible for
- sustainable development
- development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
- triple bottom line (TBL)
- expansion of traditional reporting that is focused on economic performance, to include social and environmental performance