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Blog
A collection of key terms to navigate sustainability, ESG, reporting and responsible communication.
Climate hotspots are areas of the planet that experience a faster increase in temperature than the global average, with consequent impacts on natural and human systems. Italy is located in the ‘Mediterranean hot spot’, an area where global warming runs faster than average, leading to stronger impacts on ecosystems and population settlements. ZERO IMPACT DOES [...]
Read moreThe National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC) was created with the aim of providing a national framework for the implementation of actions to minimize the resulting risks. Climate change represents and will represent in the future one of the most relevant challenges to be faced globally and in Italy. Italy is in the [...]
Read moreThe Green Asset Ratio (GAR) is a financial indicator that assesses the sustainability of a bank or financial institution’s assets. The GAR measures the percentage of ‘green’ or sustainable assets out of the financial institution’s entire portfolio. These ‘green’ assets may include: Loans Investments Other assets related to sustainable projects such as renewable energy, energy [...]
Read moreThe COP is the annual meeting of countries that have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Convention is an international environmental treaty that was signed during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty aims [...]
Read moreThe term alludes to a marketing practice, far from genuine, of espousing a feminist cause in the promotion of a product or service with the aim of gaining consumer interest. It was the Breast Cancer Association, in the figure of one of its historical members, Barbara Brenner, who coined the term Pinkwashing to expose the [...]
Read moreA sustainability committee is a group of people from within an organization who are responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring sustainable strategies and initiatives. These committees can be formed within private companies, nonprofit organizations, government institutions, and other entities. Committees related to the topic of sustainable development can be external to the governing body or [...]
Read moreBrand reputation or corporate reputation is the collective public perception of a brand. It encompasses how customers, employees, partners and others think and perceive a brand in every interaction. Brand reputation represents everything that a company is built upon and has to do with a number of strategic assets that affect the company’s identity, image, [...]
Read moreThis neologism comes from the combination of the two words green+bikering meaning quarrel, discussion. According to a Nielsen survey, 60 per cent of companies are said to have fallen prey at least once to incorrect or misleading green communications. In addition to consumers, competitors are increasingly alert and aggressive in pointing this out. In fact, [...]
Read moreSustainable fashion also called ethical or responsible fashion is a design and production philosophy that aims to create a new production model based on sustainability and social responsibility, both in production and distribution strategies and in consumer behavior. zero impact does not exist. Download an excerpt from the book now!
Read moreLately, people have also started talking about Scope 4. The most common use of the term Scope 4 emissions is to describe avoided emissions. For example, a conference call meeting between several subsidiaries of a company that avoids employee travel and international flights. Many reporting initiatives do not require organisations to report on avoided emissions, [...]
Read moreIncludes all other indirect emissions that occur within the broader value chain of an organisation. This is generally the most difficult category for accurate data collection, but now increasingly in demand. Examples include emissions from business travel and commuting and emissions generated during the use phase of a product. This is an optional scope. MEASURE [...]
Read moreIncludes indirect emissions from the generation of consumed electricity, steam, heating and cooling. This includes emissions from the use of electricity in buildings owned or occupied by the organisation. This is a mandatory scope. MEASURE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT WITH ARB
Read moreIncludes direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. For example, if a company owns offices or factories, emissions from these facilities fall into this category. The same applies to company-owned vehicles. This is a mandatory scope. MEASURE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT WITH ARB
Read moreAn SLB (Sustainability Linked Bond) is a bond issued by a company, the return on which varies according to the achievement of sustainability targets (Sustainability Performance Target) measured on specific agreed KPIs. Unlike Green and Social Bonds, SLBs are not linked to the realisation of a single sustainability project. The proceeds are not earmarked to [...]
Read moreSocial bonds are bond issues whose proceeds are used to raise funds to finance new and/or existing projects that address or mitigate a specific social problem. They are therefore instruments that support specific social objectives. Examples are affordable housing, job creation including through SME financing and micro-financing, food safety and hygiene, socio-economic advancement and empowerment, [...]
Read moreGreen Bonds are increasingly popular bonds to achieve the goals of ecological transition and sustainability on the environmental side. Their issuance is linked to the financing of a project that brings positive effects on environmental aspects (e.g. reduction of Co2eq emissions, less water consumption, protection of biodiversity) The Climate Awareness Bond (CAB) was the first [...]
Read moreSustainable finance, or SRI-Sustainable and Responsible Investment, sees the concrete and measured application of the concept of sustainable development to financial activity with the aim of creating long-term value, both for the investor and his or her stakeholders, in the logic of the broader concept of prosperity and not just profit for the company. ZERO [...]
Read moreCorporate Governance also simply called Governance refers to the way in which companies are managed. What principles must be followed in order to optimally govern the company? Transparency Security Responsibility One of its main purposes is to establish a system of rules, policies and practices to best govern the company. In conclusion, corporate governance [...]
Read moreSocial sustainability is a proactive way of managing and identifying corporate impacts on employees, value chain workers, customers and local communities. Companies that emphasise social sustainability recognise the importance of their relationships with people, communities and society. Social responsibility becomes an integral part of their business strategy and they consider the impact of their activities [...]
Read moreCorporate sustainability is an approach that aims to create long-term stakeholder value through the implementation of a corporate strategy that focuses on the ethical, social, environmental, cultural and economic dimensions of doing business. The definition of a sustainable company can be expressed as a company’s commitment to a responsible business model, whose aim is to [...]
Read moreThe sustainability report is the main tool for communicating a company’s sustainability policies. It is also a management tool because it helps the organisation define medium- to long-term improvement paths. It is a document that transparently reports to stakeholders both the positive aspects and the areas for improvement regarding the economic, social and environmental results [...]
Read moreThe Kyoto Protocol operationalises the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, committing industrialised countries and economies in transition to limit and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions according to individually agreed targets. The Convention itself merely requires these countries to adopt mitigation policies and measures and to submit periodic reports. The Kyoto Protocol is based [...]
Read moreThe release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere is a topic of increasing interest, which an organisation cannot ignore, also to increase its credibility with stakeholders. An organisation’s carbon footprint is a powerful management tool for achieving objective and quantifiable CO2 equivalent reduction targets. It is a tool that makes it possible to determine [...]
Read moreThe water footprint is a multidimensional indicator, expressed in volume terms, of the direct and indirect consumption of freshwater. Its relevance is growing in parallel with the increasing value placed on the protection of water resources. DO YOUR WATER FOOTPRINT WITH ARB
Read moreThe Circular Economy is one of the strategic sustainability tools to reduce the extraction and consumption of natural raw materials and is an alternative to the current linear model (extract raw materials, produce, use and throw away). This system already comes into play when designing an object from the perspective of its life cycle (Life [...]
Read more‘” put solar… so I am sustainable”. “I took plastic bottles and cups out of my business… so I’m sustainable”. “We recycle, so we are sustainable”. How many times have we heard such phrases? They all speak of actions that are important, but not sufficient. Above all, they should not be promoted in communication if [...]
Read moreOrganic or bio products include a wide range of products such as vaccines, blood and blood components, allergens, somatic cells, gene therapy, tissues and recombinant therapeutic proteins. Biologicals may be sugars, proteins, nucleic acids or complex combinations of these substances, or they may be living entities such as cells and tissues. Biologics are isolated from [...]
Read moreProduced or obtained without the use of environmentally harmful chemical compounds. The definition of ecological refers to any activity related to the ecosystems of planet Earth, its components and living beings. The term encompasses everything related to the habitat and organisms that survive in an ecological environment. The relationship between the organisms in an environment, [...]
Read moreEcosustainability is the human activity that governs its practice according to ecologists in the context of sustainable development. Resource renewal is at the heart of ecological sustainability and is seen as the inherent capacity of the world to cycle, the capacity to be defended so as not to alter the delicate balance of the land. [...]
Read moreGender equality is a fundamental principle of the European Union, but not yet a reality”. This statement was made by von der Leyen in March 2020 during the presentation of the gender equality strategy for 2020-25. As the first woman to hold the position of President of the European Commission, she also personally takes this [...]
Read moreThe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an action programme for people, planet and prosperity. Signed on 25 September 2015 by the governments of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, and endorsed by the UN General Assembly, the Agenda consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framed within a broader programme of action [...]
Read moreCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is, according to EU Communication 681 of 2011, “the responsibility of enterprises for the impacts they have on society”. Corporate Social Responsibility or Socially Responsible Business, again according to the European Union, means meeting the needs of the customer and at the same time managing the expectations of other stakeholders, such [...]
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