Stuck trying to tell the difference between your scope 1 and scope 2 emissions? Unsure where your mixing up your SDGs with your SBTs? The world of sustainability can be a confusing place packed filled acronyms and nuance, which is why we’ve created this simple glossary of terms.
As progress is made toward sustainability, new terms will come along so be sure to check back regularly. If you’ve got a term you want to add to the list then email contact@circularity-first.com and we’ll get it updated.
Carbon negative is achieved when emissions go below neutral, to the point that the net effect of operations is reducing carbon from the atmosphere as opposed to adding to it.
Carbon neutral is the term used when no net carbon emissions are created. Not to be confused with Net Zero or zero carbon, carbon-neutral simple means that any carbon that is produced is balanced by an equal amount of removal.
Circularity refers to practices that aim to maximise the use of resources whilst minimising waste across production and consumption. This is done through a variety of ways across a products, known as the Circularity Rs:
This looks at things through two lenses. Firstly, there is reducing need, is the existing product something that is really required? For example, do you need the latest networking equipment, or could what you already have do the job just as well. Secondly there is reduction by design, where manufacturers and vendors design products that need as few resources as possible.
This is the process of taking an existing product and putting it back through the manufacturing process so it comes out as good as new. In the case of IT, vendors will remanufacture products themselves, such as Cisco Refresh. Remanufactured products often go through more vigorous testing than new, components with known issues are replaced and will usually come with the same level of warranty.
The focus here is taking something old and breathing some life into it
When it comes to IT hardware this means replacing damaged components, cleaning it and touching up where needed. Refurbished hardware is not necessarily returned to an ‘as new’ aesthetic condition although this can depend on the condition of the original equipment, in some cases items are resprayed to look as new as they can, Refurbishment may or may not be supported by the manufacturer.
This one does what it says on the tin. It is all about keeping product in use for longer by fixing them when they break, instead of simply replacing them with something new.
The final and least attractive option. Recycling involves the repurposing of some materials from used IT equipment but unlike in remanufacturing or refurbishment, materials waste most of the embedded energy and carbon during the recycling process or are downgraded to a lower quality product.
While it is undoubtedly a more sustainable option than landfill, it does not have the ecological benefit of refurbished or remanufactured technology. Many products are simply unsuitable for recycling and only about 20% of eWaste is currently recycled.
The Circular Economy refers to goods and services that are born out of the principles of Circularity. An example might be a business that offers the recovery and remanufacturing of IT hardware.
Carbon dioxide equivalent. Not all greenhouse gases are equal in their impact on the environment, so the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) created CO2e as a way of being able to compare the emission between greenhouse gases. Essentially, it is saying, if this was carbon, this is how much carbon it would be, measured in tonnes (tCO2e). You will typically see this in emissions and carbon reports.
For example, a car emits mainly carbon monoxide, whilst a cow emits mostly methane. By using CO2e we’re easily able to compare how much greenhouse gas is emitted by both.
Decarbonisation is the process of reducing the amount of carbon that is emitted into the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases are the gases that naturally occur in our atmosphere and make up 0.04% of the atmosphere in total. Whilst they play an important role in sustaining life on planet earth, too much leads to the Earth’s temperatures increasing. Greenhouse gases are made up of:
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely recognised accounting standard for emissions. It breaks them down into three areas:
Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions are those that are created directly by assets that a company owns. For example, if a company owned a fleet of delivery vehicles, the emissions from the fuel burnt by those vehicles would be classed as Scope 1.
Scope 2 emissions are created indirectly by a business through their business operations. For example, the carbon emitted by an energy supplier for the electricity to run a data centre would be classified as Scope 2.
Scope 3 refers to the greenhouse gas emissions that go into producing goods or services used by a business. This will include things such as business travel, transportation and distribution, as well as the carbon the goes into producing IT hardware.
GreenOps is where FinOps meets sustainability. It is the practice of balancing optimal IT operational and financial efficiency, whilst maintaining the lowest possible environmental.
For example, a business might look at investing in new, more energy-efficient hardware. To achieve this, they will incur a large upfront cost and the embedded CO2 of the new hardware and they will not be offset by the greater efficiencies straight way. To strike the balance of sustainability and operational efficiency, the company would be better placed to continue using its existing hardware for longer and procuring remanufactured, more energy-efficient models, further down the line.
Sometimes referred to as zero carbon, net zero carbon means that no carbon was used during operations from the get go. For example, if a data centre is being run purely on solar energy with no fossil fuels, it can be labelled as zero carbon.
Science Based Targets provide a clear roadmap for companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to help limit global warming by 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Companies do this working with the Science Based Target initiative, following a five step process:
The Sustainable Development Goals are 17 goals with the UN has highlighted as being pivotal to achieving sustainability
