Sustainable and Responsible Management Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering basic concepts, global challenges, natural science aspects, and sustainability strategies from the Sustainable and Responsible Management course.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total monetary value of final goods and services produced within the borders of a given country in a specified time period, usually one year.

Efficiency

In management and economics, achieving a given goal using as few resources as possible (associated with social engineering).

Effectiveness

Setting and choosing the right goals to pursue (associated with social ethics).

Triple Bottom Line

A corporate sustainability framework, also known as the "three Ps", that optimizes business performance across three pillars: Profit (economic), Planet (ecological), and People (social).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

According to the European Union's 2011 definition, the responsibility that businesses take for their impact on society.

ESG

A corporate sustainability framework evaluating performance across three key dimensions: Environmental, Social, and Governance.

Sustainable Development

As defined in the 1987 Brundtland Report (Our Common Future), development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Intragenerational Equity

Fairness and the just distribution of resources, opportunities, and environmental burdens among different social groups and global regions in the present.

Intergenerational Equity

The moral responsibility to preserve natural resources, ecosystems, and environmental stability for future generations.

Planetary Boundaries

A framework developed by Johan Rockström and colleagues quantifying 9 biophysical limits of Earth system processes within which humanity can safely operate.

IPAT Formula

An equation expressing environmental impact ($I$) as the product of population size ($P$), affluence or per capita consumption ($A$), and technology efficiency ($T$): $I = P \times A \times T$.

Closed System (Earth)

A foundational economic concept emphasized by Herman Daly noting that Earth has finite natural resources, meaning the economic subsystem cannot grow indefinitely.

Degrowth Theory

An economic concept arguing that removing the structural dependence of the economy on continuous growth eliminates growth-related shocks and enables an equitable distribution of goods and services.

Doughnut Economics

An economic framework created by Kate Raworth that aims to ensure humanity lives within an ecologically safe operating space (the outer boundary) while satisfying basic social needs (the inner foundation).

Human Development Index (HDI)

A composite measure of a country's well-being based on life expectancy at birth, literacy rates, education, and standard of living.

Megacity

A metropolitan area or continuous urban agglomeration with a total population exceeding $10\text{ million}$ people.

Urban Heat Island Effect

A phenomenon in densely populated urban areas where heat-reflective artificial coverings cause ambient temperatures to be up to $5\text{--}7\,^\circ\text{C}$ higher than in surrounding rural areas.

Gini Index

A statistical metric measuring income or wealth inequality across a population, ranging from $0$ (complete equality) to $100$ (complete inequality).

Environmental Refugees

Individuals or groups forced to leave their usual place of residence due to sudden or gradual environmental changes or climate impacts that adversely affect their living conditions.

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

An annual ranking compiled by Transparency International measuring perceived levels of public sector corruption across countries on a scale from $0$ (highly corrupt) to $100$ (very clean).

Greenhouse Effect

A natural atmospheric process where short-wavelength solar radiation heats Earth's surface, which re-emits long-wavelength infrared radiation that atmospheric gases absorb and re-radiate in all directions.

Global Warming Potential (GWP)

A metric indicating how many times more heat energy a unit of a given greenhouse gas absorbs over a specified period compared to a unit of carbon dioxide ($\text{CO}_2$ GWP $= 1$).

Paris Agreement

A legally binding global climate treaty adopted in 2015 committing signatories to limit global average temperature rise to well below $2\,^\circ\text{C}$, and preferably below $1.5\,^\circ\text{C}$, above pre-industrial levels.

Acid Sedimentation

The wet or dry deposition of acidic components (such as sulfuric or nitric acid) resulting from sulfur dioxide ($\text{SO}_2$) and nitrogen oxide ($\text{NO}_x$) emissions.

Water Footprint

The total volume of freshwater consumed directly and indirectly to produce goods and services, divided into green (rainwater), blue (surface/groundwater), and grey (water needed to dilute pollutants) components.

Waste Hierarchy

An ordered ranking of waste management options from most preferred to least preferred: Prevention, Reuse, Recycling, Energy utilization (recovery), and Landfill disposal.

Weak Sustainability

A sustainability concept assuming that natural capital can generally be replaced by man-made (anthropogenic) capital, as long as the total combined capital stock is maintained.

Strong Sustainability

A sustainability concept holding that natural capital cannot be substituted by human-made capital, requiring strict preservation of natural capital within its capacity for renewal.

Quasi Sustainability

An intermediate, pragmatic sustainability approach based on the principle of caution that respects critical ecological thresholds while permitting justified, limited resource substitution.

Decoupling

The process of separating economic growth from environmental degradation, which can be relative (resource use grows slower than GDP) or absolute (resource use decreases while GDP grows).

Eco-efficiency

A sustainability strategy aimed at relative quantitative reductions in resource use and emissions per unit of product or service on a "cradle-to-grave" basis.

Eco-effectiveness

A sustainability strategy based on "cradle-to-cradle" principles that redesigns industrial processes into closed-loop systems where waste is eliminated and all materials serve as valuable inputs.

Sufficiency

A behavior-based sustainability strategy focusing on demand reduction and altering consumer habits through a "less is more" approach.

Rebound Effect

Also known as the Jevons paradox, a phenomenon where efficiency gains fail to reduce total environmental impact because lower costs or higher efficiency lead to increased overall consumption or usage.

Circular Economy

An economic model designed to eliminate waste by cycling materials continuously through biological (biodegradable materials) and technological (non-degradable materials) loops.

Scope 1 Emissions

Direct greenhouse gas emissions originating directly from facilities, vehicles, and operational processes owned or controlled by the reporting company.

Scope 2 Emissions

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

Scope 3 Emissions

All indirect greenhouse gas emissions occurring along a company's broader value chain, including upstream supplier activities and downstream product transport, use, and end-of-life disposal.

Net-Zero

A state in which remaining greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere are completely offset and balanced by equivalent permanent removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Carbon Tax

A regulatory pricing policy where a government sets a fixed tax rate per tonne of emitted greenhouse gas that polluters must pay.

Emissions Trading System (ETS)

A market-based cap-and-trade system where regulatory authorities set a cap on maximum allowable emissions and distribute or auction transferable emission allowances.