Environmental Terminology, Acronyms and Jargon

Climate Change Levy: tax on energy consumption to be levied on UK businesses from April 2001

Discharge Consent: permit to discharge contaminated water from an industrial site. The permit specifies allowed contamination limits and/or permitted discharge volumes.

Duty of Care: the duties of waste producers to ensure that their wastes are stored and disposed of in an appropriate manner. This Duty was embodied in law in the UK (for producers of "controlled" waste - a category covering most non-domestic and non-agricultural waste - by the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Eco-label: a mark that can be placed on a product to show that it meets (or exceeds) certain criteria for environmental performance. These criteria are usually based on an analysis of where, in its whole life-cycle the product causes the greatest environmental impacts. Such criteria have been developed by various third-party organisations - some focussed on individual product sectors (such as wood) others covering a range of product types for individual countries. See Environmental (or Green) Purchasing and Product Declarations.

Economic Instrument: any mechanism that makes undesirable behaviour more costly.

EMAS or Eco-Management and Audit Scheme: a scheme set up a few years ago by the European Commission which accredits industrial sites that undertake an environmental audit of their operations, put in place an environmental management system equivalent to ISO14001 and produce a site environmental report that is "verified" by an approved third-party body. EMAS has seen less uptake in the UK than ISO14001. The original scheme was revised in 2006 to broaden its scope.

Emissions Trading: a mechanism for achieving emissions reductions in a whole economy (either national, regional or global) for the lowest cost. Organisations taking part in an emissions trading scheme are allocated a certain quantity of emissions for a fixed period (normally one year). If an organisation does not use its full allocation, it can sell any spare in an open market. If it needs to exceed its allocation, it can buy permits in the same market. Those who can reduce emissions for the lowest cost have an incentive to do so, as they profit from the difference between their costs and the market price of permits. Organisations that might be required to make expensive investments in abatement equipment (or be penalised) in a command-and-control regulatory regime can buy permits instead. Because the total allocation of emission permits is centrally controlled, overall reductions can be achieved by reducing the amount of permits issued each year. As permits for unused allocations become scarcer, the price rises and more emissions-reducing investments become viable. The imminent arrival of a carbon dioxide emissions trading system in the UK is another opportunity for well-run businesses to profit from environmental management. See also Environmental (or Green) Purchasing.

End-of-Life Management: what is done with a product when it is no longer in use. Includes not only disposal, but also full or partial recycling, recovery, re-use and re-manufacture.

Environmental Management System (often shortened to EMS: any set of controls that enables your organisation to control the environmental impacts arising from its activities. An appropriate EMS is worthwhile for all organisations in a world where a small accidental spillage of oil or detergent can lead to costs of many thousands of pounds. Certification of such a system to ISO14001 requires an investment of time and money which does not represent value for money for all organisations.

Fiscal Incentive: a tax.

Greenhouse Gases (GHG): gases that contribute to the so-called "Greenhouse Effect" by which infra-red radiation (itself sunlight striking the Earth and reflected at longer wavelengths) is absorbed by molecules in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, play an important role in keeping the Earth at a habitable temperature. Increasing concentrations of these gases, and the release in recent years of more powerful synthetic ones, are behind concerns about climate change. The principal greenhouse gases are: carbon dioxide; methane; nitrous oxide; hydroflurocarbons (in fact a group of compounds rather than a single one); sulphur hexafluoride; perfluorocarbons (again more than one compound). Increasingly carbon emissions of business activities are being scrutinised; see 'Carbon Footprint'.

GRI or Global Reporting Initiative: a programme that develops guidance on enterprise-level performance reporting for sustainability. One of a number of programmes run by CERES, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, which is itself a grouping of industry, non-governmental organisations, experts, etc.

IPP - Integrated Product Policy: a recent development in environmental policy, the essence of which is that public policy should use a range of mechanisms to reduce the environmental harm associated with whole product systems, across the life-cycle. Thus policy moves on from simple prevention and control of pollution from processes to encompass a whole range of methods. These include influencing buyers' choices and suppliers' offerings through the application of market instruments, fiscal incentives and labelling requirements. Product take-back legislation, mandatory producer responsibility schemes and consumer education all have a place within IPP. Businesses wishing to make the most of opportunities presented by environmental policies and regulations should consider broadening their own environmental management efforts in a similar way.

IPPC - Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control: as well as being the title of a European Directive, this is an approach to controlling (through regulation and operating permits) all environmentally-damaging emissions from an industrial site in a coherent fashion, rather than applying separate controls for emissions to different media (air, water, land) through separate, independent authorities. IPPC shares many features of the Integrated Pollution Control system which has operated in the UK since 1990. IPPC is, however, broader in scope, requiring that waste production is avoided wherever possible and energy is used efficiently. It also covers more industrial sectors than IPC. Firms in sectors covered by IPPC should think now about broadening their environmental controlsand monitoring to address this wider scope.

Read more about IPPC. . .

ISO 14001: International standard for Environmental Management Systems. The principles underlying ISO 14001 - "plan, act, check, review" - are similar to those underlying the Quality Management standards ISO9001/2. So are the principles for certification.

ISO 14021: International standard providing guidance for declarations made by an organisation about the environmental aspects of its products or services (these "self-declared" environmental claims are sometimes called Type II Declarations). ISO 14021 is one of a series of ISO standards covering product-related environmental declarations - the ISO 14020 series.

ISO 14031: International standard providing guidance on environmental performance evaluation. Provides a method for identifying performance indicators that an organisation can use to monitor its progress towards environmental performance objectives. The mechanism shares many features of the mechanism for establishing an environmental management system described by ISO14001.

Kyoto Protocol: an international agreement, formulated at a meeting in Kyoto, that sets out mechanisms and targets for reducing global emissions of Greenhouse Gases. The Protocol does not enter in to force until it is ratified by 55 countries.

Landfill Tax: a tax levied on waste sent for landfill disposal in the UK. The tax is charged on a weight basis. Inert waste incurs a low rate. "Active" waste (materials that will decompose in the landfill) incur a higher rate, which is increasing by £1 per ton each year under current UK Government policy. Environmental management programmes help businesses mitigate the effects of these annual tax increases.

Life-Cycle: a system of inputs, outputs, transfers and processes spanning raw material extraction, material processing, manufacture, distribution, use and end-of-life management for any item. A life-cycle can be described for any product or service. The life-cycle for even simple products in industrial societies contains many materials and processes as well as transfers over long distances. Conducting some form of analysis of the life-cycle and environmental issues within it is a sound base for broadening environmental management beyond operational control. See "Design-for-Environment.

Market Instrument: a mechanism (other than a straightforward tax) by which government adjusts a market so that environmentally-desirable behaviour has lower costs associated with it.

Montreal Protocol: international agreement that set down timetables for the phasing-out of the production and use of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) in order to slow down the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere resulting from the breakdown of these chemicals. Originally formulated in 1987, the agreement was later revised to speed up the elimination of CFC's and to include other ozone-depleting products (ODP's).

Market Transformation: creating a situation in which producers place less environmentally-damaging products on the market and consumers have sufficient information and incentives to reward them with their custom. For market transformation to occur buyers and sellers both need to change their existing behaviour. Market transformation offers opportunities to differentiate your products from the competition in new ways, but this needs care to avoid unwelcome attention from environmental activists.

Producer Responsibility: the idea that producers of products bear some responsibility for their ultimate fate when they are no longer wanted by the user. Now closely associated with the UK' s Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1996, a cumbersome mechanism that forces producers, converters, fillers and sellers of packed goods to pay towards the recovery and recycling of packaging materials. What are your responsibilities?

Product Stewardship: a similar concept to Producer Responsibility but often used where producers not only take some responsibility for end-of-life management of their products, but also their safe and efficient use. The chemical industry has begun a range of Product Stewardship initiatives.Product Stewardship offers significant opportunities for businesses to build better relationships with customers, as long as care is taken to address issues that may lead to higher costs.

Product System: see Life-Cycle

Recovery: when used in a waste management context, this means the extraction of some kind of value (other than by recycling or re-use) from end-of-life products. It nearly always means energy recovery, for which the material is used as a fuel in some form of incinerator, whether this is a dedicated waste-to-energy plant, a cement kiln or an iron-making furnace.