Key ESG and carbon terms, defined
A plain-English reference for the terms that come up most often in ESG and carbon reporting.
- Scope 1
- Direct emissions from sources a company owns or controls, such as company vehicles and on-site fuel combustion.
- Scope 2
- Indirect emissions from purchased energy, such as electricity, steam, heating, and cooling.
- Scope 3
- All other indirect emissions across the value chain, split into 15 categories. Usually the largest and hardest to measure.
- tCO2e
- Tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the standard unit for expressing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Emission factor
- A value used to convert activity data (such as litres of fuel) into emissions.
- Activity data
- The underlying data on activities that generate emissions, such as energy use, travel, or purchases.
- Materiality
- A way of deciding which topics are significant enough to report on.
- Double materiality
- Reporting both how sustainability issues affect the business and how the business affects people and the environment.
- CSRD
- The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which sets sustainability reporting requirements for in-scope companies.
- ESRS
- The European Sustainability Reporting Standards used to report under CSRD.
- ISSB
- The International Sustainability Standards Board, which issues the IFRS S1 and S2 disclosure standards.
- UK SRS
- UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, based on the ISSB standards.
- CDP
- A global environmental disclosure system where companies respond to an annual questionnaire.
- CBAM
- The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which applies to importers of certain carbon-intensive goods.
- BRSR
- India's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, set by SEBI for large listed companies.
- GHG Protocol
- The most widely used standard for corporate greenhouse gas accounting.
- Supplier emissions
- Emissions associated with a company's suppliers, an important part of Scope 3.
- Audit trail
- A record that links each reported figure back to its source, method, and owner.
Ready to simplify ESG reporting?
Bring your emissions data, ESG evidence, and reporting workflow into one clear workspace.