The ESG glossary, in plain English
The terms you will meet in customer questionnaires, tenders and reporting rules, each defined in a sentence or two. Search, filter by topic or jump to a letter.
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Activity data
The underlying data on activities that generate emissions, such as energy use, travel, or purchases.
Topic: Data
Learn more about Activity dataAssurance
An independent check of reported sustainability information, increasingly required alongside financial audit.
Topic: Frameworks
Audit trail
A record that links each reported figure back to its source, method, and owner.
Topic: Data
Learn more about Audit trailBRSR
India's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, set by SEBI for large listed companies.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about BRSRBRSR Core
A subset of BRSR indicators that SEBI requires the largest listed companies in India to have independently assured or assessed.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about BRSR CoreCarbon Reduction Plan
A published plan setting out a supplier's emissions and its commitment to net zero by 2050, asked for in UK central government contracts above £5 million a year.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about Carbon Reduction PlanCBAM
The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which prices the emissions embedded in certain imported goods.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about CBAMCDP
A global environmental disclosure system where companies respond to an annual questionnaire.
Topic: Frameworks
Conversion factor
The UK government's name for an emission factor. A new set is published each year by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about Conversion factorCSRD
The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which sets sustainability reporting requirements for in-scope companies.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about CSRDDouble materiality
Reporting both how sustainability issues affect the business and how the business affects people and the environment.
Topic: Frameworks
Embedded emissions
The greenhouse gases released during the production of a good, carried with it through the supply chain.
Topic: Carbon
Emission factor
A value used to convert activity data, such as litres of fuel, into emissions.
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about Emission factorESOS
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme, which requires large UK organisations to assess their energy use and find savings every four years.
Topic: Frameworks
ESRS
The European Sustainability Reporting Standards used to report under the CSRD.
Topic: Frameworks
GHG Protocol
The most widely used standard for corporate greenhouse gas accounting, grouping emissions into three scopes.
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about GHG ProtocolIntensity ratio
Emissions expressed per unit of activity, such as per £m of turnover, to make figures comparable over time.
Topic: Carbon
ISSB
The International Sustainability Standards Board, which issues the IFRS S1 and S2 disclosure standards.
Topic: Frameworks
LCA
Life cycle assessment: modelling a product's environmental impact from raw materials to end of life.
Topic: Carbon
Location-based method
A way of reporting Scope 2 that uses the average emissions of the grid where the electricity is used. It sits alongside the market-based figure.
Topic: Carbon
Market-based method
A way of reporting Scope 2 that reflects the electricity you contracted to buy, such as a renewable tariff. It sits alongside the location-based figure, which uses the grid average.
Topic: Carbon
Materiality
A way of deciding which topics are significant enough to report on.
Topic: Frameworks
Net zero
Cutting emissions as far as possible and balancing what remains with removals, so the net total reaches zero.
Topic: Carbon
PPN 006
The UK procurement policy note that asks bidders for central government contracts worth more than £5 million a year to publish a Carbon Reduction Plan.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about PPN 006Primary data
Data collected directly from the source, such as a supplier's own measured emissions, rather than an estimate.
Topic: Data
Product carbon footprint
The greenhouse gas emissions of one product, counted across the stages you include, such as materials, making and transport, and given per unit.
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about Product carbon footprintSBTi
The Science Based Targets initiative, which sets criteria for emissions targets aligned with climate science.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about SBTiScope 1
Direct emissions from sources a company owns or controls, such as company vehicles and on-site fuel combustion.
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about Scope 1Scope 2
Indirect emissions from purchased energy, such as electricity, steam, heating, and cooling.
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about Scope 2Scope 3
All other indirect emissions across the value chain, split into 15 categories. Usually the largest and hardest to measure.
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about Scope 3SECR
UK Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting requirements for qualifying organisations.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about SECRSupplier emissions
Emissions associated with a company's suppliers, an important part of Scope 3.
Topic: Data
tCO₂e
Tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the standard unit for expressing greenhouse gas emissions.
Topic: Carbon
Learn more about tCO₂eUK SRS
UK Sustainability Reporting Standards, based on the ISSB's IFRS S1 and S2.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about UK SRSUpstream energy emissions
Emissions from producing and delivering the fuel and electricity you use, before they reach you. They are counted in Scope 3.
Topic: Carbon
Vintage
The year an emission factor represents, important because factors change as grids and methods evolve.
Topic: Data
VSME
EFRAG's voluntary sustainability reporting standard for small and medium-sized companies, a proportionate way to answer questions from customers and banks.
Topic: Frameworks
Learn more about VSME
Turn the terms into a working inventory
See how ESGen puts activity data, conversion factors and evidence to work on your own figures.