Sustainability skill glossary

The accounting standard for a company's greenhouse gas emissions, split into Scope 1 (fuel burned on site), Scope 2 (purchased electricity and heat) and Scope 3 (everything in the value chain).

Example: You build the annual inventory: fuel invoices for Scope 1, utility data for Scope 2, supplier surveys for Scope 3, then document the method and boundaries for the assurance provider.

Also called: GHG Protocol · scope 1 · scope 2 · scope 3

Used in: ESG & Sustainability Reporting · Carbon Markets & Climate Finance · Environmental Consulting

Estimating the emissions a company's suppliers, customers and products generate, using either spend data (fast, rough) or activity data from suppliers (slower, more accurate).

Example: You convert a 1,000-row purchase ledger into a spend-based estimate, then upgrade the top 20 suppliers to activity-based factors from DEFRA and EPA.

Also called: scope 3 · value chain emissions · value chain carbon · upstream emissions

Used in: Sustainability Data & Analytics · Sustainable Supply Chains & Procurement

Knowing what the IPCC assessment reports conclude about climate science, impacts and mitigation, and which numbers are credible to cite.

Example: You brief a client on why 1.5°C pathways require roughly halving emissions by 2030, citing AR6 Working Group III instead of a news article.

Also called: IPCC · climate science · AR6

Used in: Climate Policy & Governance · Climate Communications & Advocacy · Sustainability Education & Capacity Building · Sustainability Research & Knowledge Management

How electricity and heat are generated, transmitted, stored and priced, and where the emissions come from in that system.

Example: You review a company's renewable claims and point out that its grid mix still includes coal at night, so the reported savings are overstated.

Also called: energy systems · energy transition · energy sector

Used in: Renewable Energy & Clean Tech

How electricity markets price power and how projects connect to the grid: interconnection queues, capacity markets, PPAs and grid codes.

Example: You check a solar project's position in the interconnection queue and model how curtailment would affect its revenue.

Also called: power markets · electricity markets · grid integration · renewable grid

Used in: Renewable Energy & Clean Tech

Simulating how a building or system uses energy so design choices can be tested before construction.

Example: You model a 4,000 m² office in EnergyPlus, then test whether triple glazing or a heat pump cuts more from the annual load.

Also called: EnergyPlus · IES · building energy model

Used in: Green Building & Urban Sustainability

The emissions locked into materials and construction before a building is used, measured over the structure's whole life.

Example: You compare concrete and mass timber for a six-storey building in One Click LCA and write up which option saves more carbon.

Also called: embodied carbon · One Click LCA · whole-life carbon · upfront carbon

Used in: Green Building & Urban Sustainability

Planning the upgrades that take an existing building to near-zero emissions: insulation, heat pumps, glazing, controls and on-site generation.

Example: You assess a 1980s office block and sequence the retrofits by payback period, starting with the building envelope.

Also called: net zero retrofit · building retrofit · deep retrofit · retrofit strategy

Used in: Green Building & Urban Sustainability

Measuring, reporting and verifying how much carbon farmland actually stores, which decides whether soil carbon credits can be issued.

Example: You design a sampling plan for 40 fields, combine lab results with satellite data, and write the verification report a registry will accept.

Also called: soil carbon · agricultural MRV · carbon sequestration soil · regenerative soil

Used in: Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems

The costs and returns of growing trees alongside crops or livestock, including yield changes, timber income and carbon payments.

Example: You build a 15-year cashflow for a coffee farm adding shade trees and show where carbon revenue covers the establishment cost.

Also called: agroforestry · silvopasture

Used in: Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems

When batteries, pumped hydro or hydrogen make money: capital costs, round-trip efficiency, and the price spread between charging and discharging.

Example: You model a 4-hour battery against a hydrogen peaker for a utility and show which one clears the evening price spike more cheaply.

Also called: hydrogen economy · green hydrogen · battery storage economics · energy storage economics

Used in: Renewable Energy & Clean Tech

The open datasets that track emissions by country, sector and facility, including EDGAR, Climate TRACE and national inventories.

Example: You pull Climate TRACE facility data to check a supplier's claimed emissions against an independent estimate.

Also called: EDGAR · Climate TRACE · open climate data · emissions datasets

Used in: Sustainability Data & Analytics

A method for measuring a product's environmental impact across its whole life: raw materials, production, use and disposal. ISO 14040/44 sets the rules.

Example: You define the functional unit (one reusable bottle, 500 uses), map the system boundary, and compare global warming potential against a single-use alternative in openLCA.

Also called: LCA · life cycle assessment · life-cycle assessment · openLCA

Used in: Sustainability Data & Analytics · Circular Economy & Waste Management

Designing products so materials can be reused, repaired or recycled instead of discarded.

Example: You redesign a lamp so it can be disassembled with one tool and its electronics replaced without discarding the housing.

Also called: circular design · circular economy design · design for circularity · cradle to cradle

Used in: Circular Economy & Waste Management

Tracking where materials enter, move through and leave a system, measured in tonnes.

Example: You map a city's construction material flows and find that 60% of demolition waste never reaches recycling.

Also called: MFA · material flow analysis · circularity metrics

Used in: Circular Economy & Waste Management

Sorting and weighing what an organization throws away to see what could be reduced or diverted.

Example: You run a two-day waste audit at a factory, categorize the waste by type, and quantify the recyclable share.

Also called: waste audit · waste stream · zero waste · material waste analysis

Used in: Circular Economy & Waste Management

The EU Deforestation Regulation's requirement to prove that commodities such as soy, palm, timber and cocoa were not grown on deforested land.

Example: You geolocate supplier plots for a cocoa supply chain and check each polygon against satellite deforestation alerts.

Also called: EUDR · deforestation free · deforestation due diligence

Used in: Sustainable Supply Chains & Procurement

Measuring the state of species and habitats over time, using field surveys and remote sensing.

Example: You set up a monitoring plan for a restored wetland: bird counts, vegetation plots and drone imagery on a fixed schedule.

Also called: biodiversity monitoring · species monitoring · nature metrics · ecosystem monitoring

Used in: Nature, Biodiversity & Conservation

Practical techniques for collecting ecological data: species identification, transects, trapping and sampling.

Example: You run a transect survey to record plant species cover across a restoration site.

Also called: species ID · field survey · biological survey · fieldwork ecology

Used in: Nature, Biodiversity & Conservation

Farming practices that rebuild soil health and store carbon: cover crops, reduced tillage, rotation and agroforestry.

Example: You compare soil organic matter on a cover-cropped field against a conventionally tilled one and present the difference to the farm cooperative.

Also called: regenerative agriculture · regenerative farming · soil health · cover cropping

Used in: Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems

Preparing for climate impacts: assessing exposure to heat, flood and drought, then choosing adaptation measures.

Example: You assess a coastal city's flood exposure under two scenarios and rank adaptation options by cost per household protected.

Also called: climate adaptation · climate resilience · adaptation planning · vulnerability assessment

Used in: Green Building & Urban Sustainability