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Glossary
The
glossary of terms is divided into four parts, please select one
from below:
A to F - Alternative
fuels to Food miles
G to L - Genetic
engineering to Life cycle assessment
M to R - Management
system to Risk Management
S to Z - Scenarios
to World Business Council
S to Z
Scenarios
Scenarios are powerful tools for addressing
what is both fundamentally significant and profoundly unknowable
- the future. Unlike forecasts, which impose patterns extrapolated
from the past onto the future, scenarios are plausible, pertinent,
alternative "stories" that are concerned more with strategic thinking
than with strategic planning, and more specifically with the quality
of that thinking. As we enter these alternative stories, we are
guided to practice a more flexible approach to the future and to
alter our mental maps and preconceptions. Scenarios attempt to look
beyond our limited mind-sets, recognising that possibilities are
influenced by a wide range of people and that many views of the
world are different from our own.
SIGMA Guidelines
The SIGMA Guidelines are the most significant
output of Phase 2 and have been developed for all organisations
in all sectors and are an attempt to manage sustainability in one
simple product. The Guidelines aim to facilitate integrated thinking
by offering a flexible, unified but user friendly process, which
is values-based and performance driven.
Site lifecycle management
The use and combination of existing tools
and techniques (e.g. environmental impact assessment and environmental
management systems) to effectively manage a site throughout its
life from pre-development to development, commissioning, operation,
decommissioning and re-use/re-development.
Social Accountability 8000 (SA 8000)
A management system standard developed by
Social Accountability International, which is based on a range of
United Nations and International Labour Organisation Conventions
relating to best social and labour practices.
Socially responsible investment
Institutional, retail and community investment
that combines the investors' financial objectives with their particular
concerns about social, environmental and ethical issues.
Stakeholder
The management system component of the SIGMA
Guidelines defines a stakeholder as any: "Individual or group concerned
with, or affected by, a gain or loss in natural, human, manufactured,
financial or social capital (or any other impact or outcome) brought
about by an organisation's activities, products or services.
Sustainability
Sustainability may best be defined as the
"capacity for continuance into the long-term future". Anything that
can go on being done on an indefinite basis is sustainable. Anything
that cannot go on being done indefinitely is unsustainable.
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is the process by
which we move towards sustainability.
The Natural Step (TNS)
The Natural Step is a well-documented process
that allows organisations to get to grips with the fundamental issues
and principles that underpin sustainability. It is both a strategic
device and a powerful awareness raising tool. The Natural Step is
based on scientific principles, systems theory and organisational
learning. The TNS framework has been derived from an examination
of the science underpinning the working and inter-relationships
associated with natural systems. At the heart of the Natural Step
therefore, lie 4 system conditions, which provide a description
of the conditions that must be met for society to live sustainably
within planet Earth's supportive capacity.
Transparency
The duty to account to those with a legitimate
interest - the stakeholders in the organisation: those groups who
affect and / or are affected by an organisation and its activities.
Triple bottom line
A popular way of expressing the concept and
practice of sustainable development in a business context. This
is the idea that organisations derive their license to operate not
just by satisfying shareholders through improved profits and dividends
(the economic bottom line), but by simultaneously satisfying other
stakeholders in society (employees, communities, customers, etc.)
through improved performance against the social and environmental
bottom lines.
Waste
Waste is what is thrown away because it is
no longer needed or wanted. When something is thrown away the natural
resources, energy and the time used to make the product are lost.
The vast majority of these resources cannot be replaced. By throwing
the product away pressure is put on the environment to cope with
the waste itself and by a demand for new resources to replace the
product. The best way of managing waste is not to produce it in
the first place - waste prevention. Then there may be an option
to reuse the product and material.
Work / life balance
Work-life balance ensures that everyone,
regardless of age, race or gender or other needs can combine work
with their other responsibilities or aspirations. Sustainable organisations
are open to adjusting working patterns and providing flexibility
in employment practices. This can help to increase productivity,
attract the skilled, experienced and motivated staff needed and
to retain them in a competitive market place.
World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD)
A business membership organisation whose
aim is to develop tools and approaches that allow business to contribute
to sustainable development.
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