Sustainable Innovation and Economic Development Flashcards

Flashcards based on lecture notes covering corporate emission reporting, sustainable business practices, SDGs, ESG, greenwashing, and corporate strategies for CO2 emissions.

Sustainable Business Practice Categories

Four categories of sustainable business practice: inspiring and informing, productizing, co-creating, and system building.

Inspiring and Informing (Sustainability)

Internal initiatives aimed at informing and inspiring employees about sustainability, such as talks and workshops.

Productizing (Sustainability)

Engagement in internal productization to create value for external customers by including sustainability in product design.

Co-creating (Sustainability)

Co-creating with external partners, involving stakeholders in the creation process rather than solely producing for them.

System Building (Sustainability)

Building sustainability norms into the system by working systematically to nourish mindsets, develop skills, offer knowledge, and create markets.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

An extensive collection of 17 society-level goals and various targets aimed at addressing grand challenges and achieving global sustainability by 2030.

Environment, Societal, Governance (ESG) Disclosure

Companies disclose these reports to gain legitimacy from investors, users, and the public.

Greenwashing

Companies that appear transparent and publish large amounts of ESG data but perform poorly in ESG aspects.

Corporate Carbon Footprint

Total GHG emissions from a company’s operations and supply chain.

Emission Reporting

Measuring and disclosing corporate emissions.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol

The most widely used corporate emission accounting standard.

CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project)

Companies voluntarily disclose climate-related risks and emissions data.

Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)

Ensures companies set climate targets aligned with the Paris Agreement.

Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

Encourages financial institutions to disclose climate risks.

Scope 1 Emissions

Emissions that occur from sources controlled or owned by an organization.

Scope 2 Emissions

Indirect GHG emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the reporting company.

Scope 3 Emissions

Emissions that occur in a company's value chain, including both upstream and downstream emissions.

Carbon Management Hierarchy

Actions at the top of the hierarchy are more transformative and lasting in terms of reducing a company's emissions baseline

Avoid (Carbon Reduction)

Avoid carbon-intensive activities and rethink business strategy.

Reduce (Carbon Reduction)

Improve efficiency in existing processes.

Replace (Carbon Reduction)

Replace high-carbon energy sources with low-carbon ones.

Offset (Carbon Reduction)

Compensate for emissions that can't be limited by other means.

Carbon Offsets

Companies invest in projects like tree planting or carbon capture to compensate for emissions.