esg glossary

ACRES

Singapore animal welfare charity that campaigns on the dolphins.

Ethics & Compliance Initiative

US workplace ethics research body known for its speaking-up survey.

KPMG

One of the four largest accounting firms, known for its 19% valuation survey.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

UN agency for work that provides the living wage definition.

Morality

Beliefs and norms about right and wrong (e.g., Animals should not suffer for fun).

Law

Rules the state enforces with penalties (e.g., Prevention of Corruption Act).

Ethics

Careful reasoning about what is right (e.g., Which care option is best for the dolphins?).

Ethical theory

A tested way of explaining right and wrong (e.g., Utilitarianism).

Payer

The person, group or animal that loses from a choice (e.g., Trainers whose roles change).

Business case

The argument that doing good also pays (e.g., Less reputational risk).

Moral case

The argument that something is right even if it does not pay (e.g., Paying a living wage).

Reputational risk

Risk of losing customers or value through lost trust (e.g., Captive dolphins in a green brand).

Sustainability report

A listed firm's yearly report on its ESG performance (e.g., Genting Singapore's report).

Utilitarianism

Judge an act by its total good and harm (e.g., Count dolphins that would survive).

Duty ethics

Some acts are right or wrong in themselves (e.g., Do not lie on a checklist).

Categorical imperative

Kant's tests: a rule everyone could follow; never use people merely as tools (e.g., Every hotel faking reviews fails).

Virtue ethics

Ask what a good person would do (e.g., An honest resort explains its plan).

Practical wisdom

Judgement to use the right virtue here (e.g., Knowing when to speak up).

Anthropocentric

Putting humans at the centre (e.g., Nature valued only for tourism).

Instrumental value

Worth because it is useful to us (e.g., Dolphins as a ticket draw).

Intrinsic value

Worth something in itself (e.g., A dolphin's life).

Posthuman ethics

Challenges human superiority; animals matter beyond use (e.g., Sanctuary; release only if suitable).

Deep ecology

Humans are one part of nature, not its owners (e.g., Arne Næss's view).

Moral awareness

Noticing that a choice has an ethical side (e.g., Is this commission a bribe?).

Ethical blindness

Doing wrong without noticing (e.g., Paperwork that hides a bribe).

Moral muteness

Avoiding ethical language about a known concern (e.g., Staying quiet about an overpayment).

Rationalising

Giving a wrong act a respectable reason or name (e.g., "It is only a commission").

Misconduct

Breaking the law, company standards or ethical duties (e.g., Faking a safety check).

Retaliation

Harm done to someone for raising a concern (e.g., Sidelining a whistleblower).

Agent

A middleman paid to win business (e.g., Keppel's Brazil agent).

Code of conduct

A firm's written rules for staff behaviour (e.g., No gifts above S$50).

Compliance approach

Managing ethics through rules and checks (e.g., Anti-bribery training).

Integrity approach

Managing ethics through shared values (e.g., Leaders who invite challenge).

Compliance function

A team that checks the firm follows the law and its rules (e.g., Keppel's after 2017).

Global settlement

One deal with several countries' authorities at once (e.g., Keppel, December 2017).

Facilitation payment

Small payment to speed a routine official task (e.g., Paying to stamp a permit faster).

Living wage

Pay enough for a decent life for a family (e.g., ILO definition, 2024).

Local Qualifying Salary

Least that firms hiring foreign workers must pay local staff (e.g., S$1,800 from July 2026).

Social opportunity cost

The good the same resources could do elsewhere (e.g., Daewoo's borrowing).

Four lenses framework

A structured ethical model examining issues through utilitarian, duty-based, virtue-based, and posthuman lenses.

Grow the pie model

A business philosophy proposing that creating social and stakeholder value expands the total economic value of an enterprise.

Right versus right dilemma

A choice between two competing, valid moral values rather than between clear right and wrong.

Three levels of moral reasoning

A developmental framework explaining ethical progression through preconventional, conventional, and postconventional stages.

Pre-conventional morality

The stage of moral development where decisions are driven by obedience, self-interest, and avoiding punishment.

Conventional morality

The stage of moral development where actions are guided by social norms, relationships, and upholding laws.

Post-conventional morality

The advanced stage of moral reasoning where choices are governed by universal ethical principles and human rights.

Whistleblowing

The act of exposing misconduct, illegal activities, or ethical wrongdoing within an organisation.

Speaking up

Raising concerns, asking questions, or flagging unethical practices internally before harm occurs.

Deontology

An ethical framework asserting that acts are right or wrong based on moral rules and duties, independent of consequences.

Consequentialism

An ethical philosophy holding that the rightness or wrongness of an action is judged solely by its outcomes.

Conflict of interest

A situation where personal or financial interests clash with professional responsibilities and objectivity.

Corporate governance

The set of rules, controls, and policies by which a company is directed, managed, and held accountable.

Physical risk

The risk to a business from climate itself: heat, flood, storm, drought, sea level. Week 2.

Transition risk

The risk to a business from the shift to a low-carbon economy: policy, prices, technology, reputation. Week 2.

Inelastic supply (Week 2 core idea)

Supply that cannot expand quickly when demand rises, because it depends on refineries, feedstock or certification that take years to build. Where a rule fixes demand and supply is inelastic, the adjustment happens in price rather than quantity, and the cost lands on whoever cannot pass it on.

Incidence

Who a cost finally lands on after everyone has passed on what they can. Week 2.

Tradable right

A permit or credit that can be bought and sold, so the cheapest cut happens first. Week 2.

CORSIA

Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. Credits bought for emissions above an agreed reference level. Week 2.

Premium

The amount by which the cleaner option costs more than the thing it replaces. Week 2.

Substantiation (Week 2 core idea)

Holding evidence at the level your claim asserts. The test is not whether a statement is true in general but whether the evidence held supports the specific thing said, at the strength it was said.

Impairment

Value written off the books because an asset will never earn back what was paid for it. Week 2.

ESG

Environmental, Social and Governance. The three headings under which non-financial performance is assessed. Week 1.

Externality

A cost, or benefit, that lands on somebody who was not part of the deal. Week 1.

Internalising

Forcing that cost back onto whoever caused it, through tax, levy or mandatory disclosure. Week 1.

Materiality

An issue is material if it would change what somebody decides to do. Not the same as important. Week 1.

Shareholder, stakeholder

A shareholder owns part of a company; a stakeholder is affected by it. Week 1.

Pie-splitting, pie-growing

Value is fixed and responsibility is sacrifice; or value can be enlarged for investors and society together.

Carbon tax

A charge per tonne on a facility's own emissions. Week 1.

SAF, and the SAF levy

Sustainable Aviation Fuel, and the per-ticket charge that funds purchase of it. Week 1.

Attribution (Week 2 core idea)

Assigning an emission to a specific reporting entity. This is the condition every instrument depends on: a tax needs a taxpayer, a levy needs a buyer, a disclosure needs a reporting entity. Without attribution an externality cannot be internalised at all.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 (Week 2 core idea)

The system that does the attributing. Scope 1 is what a firm burns itself, Scope 2 is the energy it buys, Scope 3 is everywhere else in its value chain.

Spend-based method

Estimating emissions by multiplying money spent by an industry-average carbon factor. Week 2.