Dictionary of Sustainable Management
Das englischsprachige Dictionary of Sustainable Management (Lexikon des Nachhaltigen Managements) des Presidio World College ist ein offenes Nachschlagewerk für Führungspersonen und Studenten der Nachhaltigkeit und verwandten Wirtschaftsgebieten. Es handelt sich um ein Projekt der Presidio School of Management, San Francisco. Es enthält zahlreiche Einträge zu verschiedenen Themen rund um das Thema Nachhaltigkeit und Management (mit der Möglichkeit, diese zu kommentieren) wie z.B.:AccountAbility 1000S
AccountAbility is a not-for-profit certification and research organization founded in the UK in 1995. The 1000 Series is AccounAbility’s guidelines for reporting on social, environmental and ethical performance.
More information: www.accountability.org.uk
Balanced Scorecard
A process introduced by Robert S. Kaplan and David Norton in 1992 designed to give managers tools for measuring the performance of a business from a:
- Financial perspective,
- Customer perspective,
- Business process perspective
Biodiesel
An alternative to standard diesel fuel. Biodiesel has become America’s fastest growing alternative fuel (according to the Department of Energy). This clean-burning, renewable fuel is created by combining methanol or ethanol (the base) with any type of vegetable oil, such as canola or soybean oil, or animal fat. It can be used in any diesel engine, either by itself or blended with petroleum diesel. Biodiesel is currently more expensive to use than pure diesel fuel. Many people combine a mixture of biodiesel with diesel petroleum in order to both decrease costs and to ensure that the biodiesel does not congeal in colder climates. The use of biodiesel results in a reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and other cancer-causing compounds. Biodiesel produces up to 78% less CO2 than petroleum diesel fuel, and helps to reduce greenhouse gases. The use of biodiesel decreases dependence on oil. More people are becoming aware of its benefits to the environment and production in the USA tripled in 2005, reaching 75 million gallons domestically. The Department of Energy states projects that this will double in 2006.
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
A business outlook that acknowledges responsibilities to stakeholders not traditionally accepted, including suppliers, customers, and employees as well as local and international communities in which it operates and the natural environment. There are few accepted standards and practices so far, but a growing concern that the actions organizations take have no unintended consequences outside the business, whether driven by concern, philanthropy, or a desire for an authentic brand and public relations.
Carbon Disclosure Project
An initiative by leading institutional investors (with assets of T) to research and rate global companies based on their risks due to climate change. The 2003 CDP report estimated that a single carbon-intensive manufacturing company might carry as much risk (in energy prices, availability, and potential carbon taxes) equal to 40% of it’s market capitalization. The report also notes how many of the top global 500 firms consider climate change a risk to their businesses.
Carbon Footprint
The total amount of greenhouse gases emitted directly and indirectly to support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of either carbon or carbon dioxide. Carbon footprints are calculated by countries as part of their reporting requirements under the Kyoto Protocol, as well as by companies, regions, or individuals. Direct greenhouse gas emissions can include tailpipe emissions of CO2 from motor vehicles, methane from landfills, and hydrofluorocarbons from leaking refrigeration or air conditioning equipment. Indirect greenhouse gas emissions arise from coal and other fossil fuel-based energy generated to power residential, commercial, and industrial activities. Indirect emissions also arise from fossil fuel combustion used in the manufacture, transport, storage, disposal, and recycling of commodities and manufactured products.
Carbon Trading
Any trading system designed to offset carbon emissions from one activity (such as burning fossil fuels in manufacturing, driving, or flying) with another (such as installing more efficient technologies, planting carbon-reducing plants, or establishing contracts with others not to partake in carbon-releasing activities). The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is the first and biggest carbon trading market in existence and is modeled on a stock market. Other programs, such as driveneutral.org also allow carbon trading for individuals without interfacing directly with the CCX or other trading systems.
Clean Production
Manufacturing processes designed to minimize environmental impact by using the minimum amount of energy and raw materials possible and producing limited waste or emissions
When activities that reduce or capture carbon are paired successfully with those that produce it, these are said to be carbon neutral or climate neutral.
Corporate Citizenship
The expectation that drives companies to interact with their wider communities in an ethical and socially-responsible manner. Many companies view themselves as other than citizens of the places they do business or define business as having no social or ethical responsibilities. Increasingly, however, organizations are reconciling their corporate goals with those of their stakeholders, including local communities and their customers’ values. Good corporate citizenship involves: legal compliance, employee relations, environmental performance, transparency, human rights, product stewardship, stakeholder communication, profitability, strategy integration, and community involvement.
Factor 10
The goal of being ten times as productive with half the resources (materials and energy), leading to a factor 10 improvement in efficiency. Alternatively, practices that are just as productive while using only 10% of the resources also qualify.
This is an escalated challenge from the concept introduced in the 1998 book, Factor 4, written by L. Hunter Lovins and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Ernst von Weizsäcker, founder of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment & Energy. The book explains how relatively easy it is for businesses to achieve Factor 4 results (four times the efficiency of materials and energy use) with existing technologies. It has many examples of real-world projects that save money and reduce pollution simultaneously.
Green Tech
Alternatively referred to as environmental technology or cleantech, this term is used to describe a collection of modern technologies and approaches that maximize human, environmental, and economic benefits. Specifically, green tech utilizes advancements of modern environmental science, biotechnology and engineering to provide products and services in a way that least degrades natural resources, and in some cases, regenerates them. Common examples of green tech include: materials recycling; utilization of solar, wind and other renewable energy sources for power; biological water treatment and grey water recycling; biofuels; and energy-conserving electronics.
Kyoto Protocol
An agreement developed by and for industrial nations in 1997 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5% below 1990 levels by 2012. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 2005 without the US ratifying it. Currently, the EU expects to achieve the goals two years early, in 2010. Over 200 US cities have decided to meet the Kyoto Protocols on their own.
Zero Waste
The goal of developing products and services, managing their use and deployment, and creating recycling systems and markets in order to eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials and conserve and recover all resources. Implementing zero waste eliminates all discharges to land, water, or air that may be a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health. Many cities and states already have set zero-waste goals. For example, San Francisco and other cities have set a goal to create zero waste by 2020.
Interne Links
Externe Links
- Dictionary of Sustainable Management (Lexikon des Nachhaltigen Managements)
- Presidio World College
- Presidio School of Management