IC - e2 - Glossary
Biodiversity
The variability among living organisms; this includes diversity within species
(genetic diversity), between species and of ecosystems.
Cleaner Production (CP)
The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy
applied to processes, products, and services to increase overall efficiency
and reduce risks to humans and the environment. For production processes cleaner
production includes conserving raw materials and energy, eliminating toxic raw
materials, and reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes.
For products it involves reducing the negative impacts along the life cycle
of a product, from raw materials extraction to its ultimate disposal. For services
the strategy focuses on incorporating environmental concerns into designing
and delivering services. (United Nations Environment Programme)
Design for Environment (DfE)
The Design for Environment approach is grounded in comparing performance, costs,
and the risks associated with alternatives. It uses cleaner technologies substitutes
assessments (CTSAs) and life cycle tools to evaluate the performance, costs,
and environmental and human health impacts of competing technologies. A goal
of DfE is to encourage pollution prevention, front-end, innovations through
redesign rather than relying on end-of-pipe controls to reducing potential risks
to human health and the environment. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
Eco-efficiency
A term developed by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development. Eco-efficiency
is reached by the delivery of competitively-priced goods and services that satisfy
human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological
impacts and resource intensity throughout the life cycle, to a level at least
in line with the earth's estimated carrying capacity.
Ecosystem
A dynamic system of plants, animals and other organisms, together with the non-living
components of the environment, functioning as an interdependent unit.
Ecosystem integrity
The quality of a natural unmanaged or managed ecosystem in which the natural
ecological processes sustain the function, composition and structure of the
system.
Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
A management structure that allows an organization to assess and control the
environmental impact of its activities, products or services. (Standards Council
of Canada)
Extended Product Responsibility (EPR)
EPR addresses what many regard as the weakest link in the product responsibility
chain - the final disposal of products after their sale and use by consumers.
Under EPR, the responsibility for post-consumer products is extended to the
producer of the product - a responsibility that has been traditionally held
by municipalities and taxpayers. EPR embodies the principle that manufacturers
of products should bare a significant degree of responsibility for the environmental
impact of their products throughout the products' life cycle - including upstream
impacts inherent in the selection of materials for the products, impacts from
the manufacturers' production itself and downstream impacts from the use and
disposal of the products. EPR is the basis for a new generation of pollution
prevention policies that focus on the product instead of the production facility.
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
Factor Four
The idea that resource productivity should be quadrupled so that wealth is doubled,
and resource use is halved. The concept has been summed up as "doing more
with less". It is argued that this would result in substantial macro-economic
gains.
Factor Ten
The idea that per capita material flows caused by OECD countries should be reduced
by a factor of ten. Globally, claim proponents, material turnover should be
reduced by 50%, but because OECD countries are responsible for material flows
five times as high as developing countries, and world population is inevitably
increasing, the OECD has to set long-term targets well beyond the more conservative
Factor Four target.
Full-Cost Accounting (FCA)
An accounting method which determines total value or final price by internalizing
non-market values such as environmental and social costs and benefits. (Environment
Canada - A Guide to Green Government)
Industrial ecology
Uses the metaphor of metabolism to analyze production and consumption by industry,
government, organizations and consumers, and the interactions between them.
It involves tracking energy and material flows through industrial systems, e.g.
a plant, region, or national or global economy.
Inter-generational equity
The principle of equity between people alive today and future generations. The
implication is that unsustainable production and consumption by today's society
will degrade the ecological, social, and economic basis for tomorrow's society,
whereas sustainability involves ensuring that future generations will have the
means to achieve a quality of life equal to or better than today's.
ISO 14000
The ISO 14000 series is a family of environmental management standards developed
by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The ISO 14000 standards
are designed to provide an internationally-recognized framework for environmental
management, measurement, evaluation and auditing. They do not prescribe environmental
performance targets, but instead provide organizations with the tools to assess
and control the environmental impact of their activities, products or services.
The standards address the following subjects: environmental management systems;
environmental auditing; environmental labels and declarations; environmental
performance evaluation; and life cycle assessment. (Standards Council of Canada)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Life cycle assessment is a specific method for systematically identifying, quantifying
and assessing inputs and outputs (i.e. sources of environmental impact) throughout
a product's lifecycle. It is one of a range of tools that support life cycle
management, but is not a prerequisite for life cycle management.(Environment
Canada - Environmental Life Cycle Management: A Guide To Better Business Decisions)
Life Cycle Management (LCM)
Life cycle management is about minimizing environmental burdens throughout the
life cycle of a product or service. The lifecycle includes all activities that
go into making, using and disposing of a product. (Environment Canada - Environmental
Life Cycle Management: A Guide To Better Business Decisions)
Natural capital
An extension of the economic notion of capital (manufactured means of production)
to environmental 'goods and services'. It refers to a stock (e.g., a forest)
which produces a flow of goods (e.g., new trees) and services (e.g., carbon
sequestration, erosion control, habitat). Natural capital can be divided into
renewable and non-renewable; the level of flow of non-renewable resources (e.g.
fossil fuels) is determined politically.
Pollution prevention
The use of processes, practices, materials, products or energy that avoid or
minimize the creation of pollutants and waste, and reduce the overall risk to
human health or the environment.
Sustainable Development (SD)
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. (World Commission on Environment
and Development - the Brundtland Commission)
References
International Institute for
Sustainable Development.
Natural Resources
Canada
Environment Canada
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