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A-C
AA1000
The Institute of Social and Ethical AccountAbility’s AA1000 Assurance Standard is a process standard for measuring and reporting on the ethical behaviour of business. It aims to help organisations to define goals and targets, measure progress against these targets, audit and report performance and establish feedback mechanisms. It provides guidance and best practice for stakeholder engagement and organisational reporting, including ways in which to assess the completeness, materiality and responsiveness of an organisation's systems and processes. To find out more, read our AA1000 briefing paper.
Accountability
The ability (of an organisation, project or institution) to provide an account of its activities both as an explicit record of them, and as an acceptance of responsibility for them.
Adaptation (to climate change)
Analysis of social, technical and environmental factors that influence the capacity to adapt to climate change. Using a quantitative knowledge base on man's vulnerability to climate change and focusing on strategies to reduce risk and increase response to hazards.
Anti-corruption
To work against corruption; corruption being 'lack of integrity or honesty, often associated with bribery, through the use of a position of trust for dishonest gain. This covers monetary gain as well as non-monetary advantages'. Anti-corruption is the tenth principle of the UN Global Compact.
See also:
Article 13
Our company name was taken from the 13th Article of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Rio Earth Summit (1992). Article 13 of the convention was concerned with education and awareness of biodiversity issues.
Assurance
Assurance, sometimes referred to as verification or auditing, is an evaluation of the quality of a sustainability report or processes, including the underlying systems that produce the information in the report, in relation to a standard or suitable set of criteria (e.g. AA1000 for stakeholder engagement). The assurance provider’s role is not to judge the organization’s performance, but simply to ensure that the report provides a fair and reliable basis for readers to make up their own minds. Independent assurance can add credibility to a sustainability report.
Balanced scorecard
Enables organisations to clarify vision and strategy, to translate this into action and to provide feedback around internal business processes and external outcomes, in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. Focuses on four perspectives: The Learning and Growth Perspective; The Business Process Perspective; The Customer Perspective; The Financial Perspective.
Benchmarking
Developed in such areas as Total Quality Management (TQM), benchmarking involves the comparison, ranking or rating of different business processes, units or companies against standards. The aim: to identify ways of improving the performance of operations, systems, processes. To find out more, see Article 13's CSR / sustainability audit & benchmarking service.
Biodiversity
The word - a contraction of 'biological diversity' - is sometimes used as a synonym for 'Life on Earth'. But its specific meanings, referring to the number, variety and variability of living organisms, will be central to 21st century values, thinking and action.
Bioprospecting
The search in the biosphere, the collection of all living things, for new materials that have commercial value. Bioprospectors have been likened to the Indiana Joneses of the 21st century.To find out more, read our bioprospecting briefing paper.
Biopiracy
The appropriation, normally by means of patents of legal rights over indigenous knowledge - particularly indigenous biomedical knowledge. The piracy occurs when there is a lack of compensation to the indigenous groups who originally developed such knowledge.
BiTC CR Index
A benchmark of Responsible Business, produced by Business in the Community, which aids companies in integrating and improving responsibility throughout their operations. It assists in the managing, measuring and reporting of business impacts on the surrounding community and environment.
Bribery
The practice of offering something (usually money) in order to gain an illicit advantage. Visit our Transparency and anti-corruption resource centre to explore what is being done to tackle bribery in business.
Business responsibility (BR)
The approach taken by an organisation to take responsibility for its actions and consequences within wider society. This encompasses its policies and measures to manage the economic, social, environmental, ethical and human rights impacts of its business workings, reaping benefits for its own operations, reputation and surrounding communities.
Business Responsibility also encompasses many aspects of corporate citizenship, CSR, and sustainability to name a few.
Business transformation
A radical change in the definition and nature of the business, as if starting from scratch, in response to the external environment. It can be created via developing coaching cultures within organisations. See our executive coaching products to learn more.
Carbon emissions
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most abundant greenhouse gas and the term carbon emissions is used to refer to the largely anthropogenic (man made) production of this gas, created through the burning of fossil fuels, and from both small and large scale energy-consuming activities.
Carbon footprint
The impact of something on the environment through releasing CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. A carbon footprint can be calculated to apply to an individual, household, company, community, product, service, in fact almost anything. See also ecological footprint.
Carbon labelling
A method for measuring the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services across their lifecycle. The life-cycle approach evaluates a product’s carbon emission over its entire life cycle, encompassing extraction, processing, manufacture, transport, distribution, use, re-use and maintenance, recycling and final disposal. Basically a label which denotes in grams the level of CO2 produced from ‘seed to store’ including growing, manufacturing, transporting and storing a product.
Carbon offsetting
Giving a monetary amount equal to the CO2 produced by your carbon footprint to a carbon offset company to invest in projects that are tackling climate change and other projects that are working towards sustainability.
Carbon trading
Carbon trading has become the central pillar of international agreements aimed at slowing climate change. If a company wants to emit more than its carbon allowance, it must buy credits from others who are cleaning up. If it emits less, it has allowances in hand that it can sell to those doing less well - thus creating a market in carbon. Proponents of this market-based approach argue that carbon trading allows reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the most economical manner. See also, emissions trading.
Capacity-building
Shorthand for a wide range of support, techniques and initiatives which aim at building the capacity of individuals or organisations within communities to engage with action plans and issues concerning their own future.
Choice editing
Choice editing is the term used to describe instances where governments and/or businesses are making climate change choice for consumers (such as Australia removing all non-energy efficient light bulbs from the market and thus removing the choice for consumers to buy non-energy efficient light bulbs).
Clean technologies
Technological appliances that are more energy efficient. They have a smaller ecological footprint and carbon footprint, and are developed with concern for climate change, the environment and sustainability.
Climate change
Climate change implies changes in the occurrence or intensity of extreme weather events, or an accelerated uni-directional change in climate. It is manifested by a rise in global temperatures of around 0.6°C. Critics argue that the Earth's climate undergoes cycles of ice ages and warm periods, and therefore the climatic change we are witnessing is a natural phenomenon. However, a growing body of scientific evidence, and political consensus, suggests climatatic change represents a potentially catastrophic threat to humanity. To find out more, visit our Climate Change Resource Centre.
Code of conduct
A formal statement of the values and business practices of a company and sometimes its suppliers. A code is a statement of minimum standards together with a pledge by the company to observe them and to require its contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and licensees to observe them.
Combined Code of Corporate Governance
Published by the Financial Reporting Council, the Combined Code synthesises previous reviews of the role and effectiveness of non-executive directors by Derek Higgs (the Higgs report) and a review of audit committees by a group led by Sir Robert Smith (the Smith Report). It replaces the Hampel Committee Combined Code published in 1998.
Communication on Progress (CoP)
An annual report demonstrating measures of success against predetermined criterion. For example, UN Global Compact members produce an annual COP stating actions and initiatives against each of the ten UNGC principles and how the action has addressed the target key performance indicator (KPI). See Article 13’s UNGC COP.
Community participation
Community participation is the process of involving community members in decision-making about their issues that affect them, including service planning, policy development, setting priorities and addressing quality issues in the delivery of services. There is a range of ways to involve the community and gain community input and feedback, such as: developing formal partnerships, inviting public comment through public meetings, forums and documents for consultation; conducting focus groups, surveys, interviews and workshops; forming community councils, advisory and consultative committees; developing networks of consumers, carers and community representatives; and appointing representatives to health committees.
Competitive advantage
Porter (1985) proposes that competitive advantage "grows out of the value a firm is able to create for its buyers that exceeds the firm's cost of creating it". To find out more, read our CSR expert view on competitive advantage.
Compliance
The agreement of behaviour with a prescribed code generally used in connection with legislation.
Consultation
In general terms, consultation can be used to describe many forms of public or stakeholder involvement. The process should be a continuous exchange of views and information and if utilised effectively can help to ensure that stakeholders’ needs and views are central to any decisions that are made. Consultation provides an extremely important means of engaging people in both public and private sector activities, and in the shaping of services and policy development.
Corporate citizenship / corporate social responsibility (CSR)
An approach by which a company:
- recognises that its activities have a wider impact on the society in which it operates; and that developments in society in turn impact on its ability to pursue its business successfully;
- actively manages the economic, social, environmental and human rights impact of its activities across the world, basing these on principles which reflect international values, reaping benefits both for its own operations and reputation as well as for the communities in which it operates;
- seeks to achieve these benefits by working closely with other groups and organisations - local communities, civil society, other businesses and home and host governments.
This approach is derived from principles of sustainable development. To find out more, order our publication on corporate social responsibility.
Corporate governance
Corporate governance relates to the internal means by which corporations are operated and controlled. While governments play a central role in shaping the legal, institutional and regulatory climate within which individual corporate governance systems are developed, the main responsibility lies with the private sector. (“OECD Principles of Corporate Governance”, 1999). To find out more, read our CSR expert view on corporate governance.
Corporate sustainability
The capability of an organisation to continue its activities indefinitely, having taken account of their impact on financial, social and environmental capitals.
Organisations integrate economic, environmental and social criteria into strategy and management. They pursue opportunities and manage risks that accompany sustainability trends. They create long-term shareholder value by leading their industry with a strong commitment and superior performance in all these dimensions.
See also:
Corruption
Lack of integrity or honesty, often associated with bribery, through the use of a position of trust for dishonest gain.
(Source: Article 13 sources and World Business Council on Sustainable Development).
© Article 13
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