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Article

Do You Fall Under the EU Taxonomy and the LkSG (German Supply Chain Act)? Read This! (Shortcut and Framework Combination)

March 20, 2023

ESRS reporting CSRD EU Sustainability Regulation

Article

Introducing the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (EU CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS)

March 13, 2023

carbon footpring Scope 1 Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions GHG emissions

Article

How to Calculate the Carbon Footprint of Your Company (Everything You Need To Know)

March 6, 2023

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Our monthly newsletter covering the ESG regulatory sector

Article

What do you need to know about the SEC's proposed climate disclosure regulation?

March 29, 2022

Article

EU member states propose changes to CSRD timeline and scope

February 25, 2022

Article

The EU green claims initiative and what it means for your business

February 15, 2022

the-sustainable-corporate-governance-initiative-and-what-it-means-for-your-business

Article

The Sustainable Corporate Governance Directive and what it means for your business

February 14, 2022

Article

The Climate Standard you will have to report on soon

February 2, 2022

Article

Tired of Excel? Switch to specialized ESG reporting software.

January 17, 2022

corporate-sustainabilty-reporting-directive-CSRD

Article

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

December 23, 2021

Article

Supply Chain Law and its implications for businesses

December 23, 2021

Article

EU Commission's proposed Battery Regulation and its impact on businesses

December 23, 2021

Article

Green Taxonomy and what it means for EU Businesses

December 23, 2021

Use case

EU Supply Chain Act: Everything Your Company Needs to Know

February 9, 2023

Use case

Portfolio Taxonomy Alignment for Investment Firms

October 27, 2022

White Paper

Your step-by-step guide to build an effective compliance strategy

November 26, 2022

White Paper

The most important reporting frameworks for your company

October 6, 2022

WEBINAR-AUFZEICHNUNG

LkSG-Webinar Serie, Interview mit Dr. Kiri Trier

Februar 3, 2023

Factsheet

Everything you need to know about the upcoming European directive

October 6, 2022

Factsheet

Check what you can expect from the German Supply Chain law and how ready your organization is

October 19, 2022

1.5° warmer

Temperature trajectory in which global warming has reached and been limited to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial level. Several aspects play a role for the assessment of risk and potential impacts in a 1.5-degree Celsius warmer world including overshoot magnitude, emission reduction strategy, and policy. Even if all emissions were stalled, elements of the climate system would still be disturbed and temperature would continue to rise for decades, which is why limiting temperature surge has a big impact on the environment.

Adaptation (transformational)

Adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, to moderate harm. Transformational adaptation changes the fundamental attributes of a socio-ecological system in anticipation of climate change and its impacts.

Afforestation

Planting new forests on lands that did not contain them historically.

Blue Carbon

Carbon captured by living organisms in coastal and marine ecosystems (mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses), and stored in biomass and sediments.

Baseline Scenario

Also called business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, it refers to scenarios that assume that no mitigation policies or measures will be implemented beyond those that are already in place.

Black Carbon (soot)

Natural process mostly formed by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass.

Carbon Footprint

A measure of all greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by a product, or a person, during a certain period of time (for example, during production). The greenhouse gases are usually converted into CO₂-equivalents, hence the name.

Climate feedback

Interaction in which a perturbation in one climate quantity causes a change in a second and the change in the second quantity ultimately leads to an additional change in the first. Negative feedback occurs when the initial perturbation is weakened by the changes it causes, and positive feedback is one in which the initial perturbation is enhanced.

CSRD, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

A directive that will replace the NFRD (Non-Financial Reporting Directive). Like its predecessor, the CSRD also obliges companies in the EU to produce sustainability reports. However, it is more complex and comprehensive. It is to apply from 2024 but already refers to the 2023 financial year.

Carbon Sink

Area that absorbs or holds more carbon than it gives off (forests, oceans, soil). Trees absorb about 20 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare each year.

Climate resilient pathways

Iterative process for managing change within complex systems to reduce disruptions and enhance opportunities associated with climate change.

Climate Governance

The means for deciding, managing, implementing, and monitoring policies and measures. The more inclusive concept of governance recognizes the role of the public and private sectors.

Corporate Sustainability

Corporate Sustainability is a term according to which companies must consider not only their economic growth but also their environmental and social impact. Corporate sustainability includes, among others: sustainable growth, areas of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and corporate accountability theory.

Climate change

This refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer.

Carbon budget

The global carbon budget refers to the estimated cumulative amount of global carbon dioxide emissions that are estimated to limit global surface temperature to a given level above a refence period. It also refers to the distribution of the carbon budget to the regional, national, and sub-national level based on considerations of equity, costs, and efficiency.

Carbon Dioxide

CO2 is a naturally occurring gas and by-product of burning fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal), of burning biomass, of land-use changes, and of industrial processes. It is the reference gas against which other greenhouse gases are measured and therefore had a global warming potential of 1.

Carbon footprint

Expressed in CO2e, this is a measure of the exclusive total amount of greenhouse gas emissions equivalents (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases) that are directly and indirectly caused by an individual, activity or are accumulated over the life stages of a product.

CDSB, Climate Disclosure Standards Board

An association of international non-profit organizations. The main objective of this association is to enrich corporate reporting with information on so-called natural capital. To achieve this, the CDSB provides guidelines for sustainable reporting.

CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility describes the idea that companies are responsible for their social impact. It is therefore based upon the proposition that companies need to maximise positive and minimise negative impacts.

Carbon cycle

Term used to describe the flow of carbon through the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and terrestrial and marine biosphere and lithosphere. In most literature, 1GtC=10^15gC.

Climate projection

Stimulated response of the climate system to a scenario of future emission.

Carbon neutrality

This is achieved when carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are offset by eliminating the same amount through other avenues, leaving you with a balance of zero, also called a zero-carbon footprint.

CDP, Carbon Disclosure Project

A non-profit organisation that collects ecological data from companies and other institutions on the basis of voluntary reports. This includes, for example, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The main goal of these efforts is a carbon-neutral and sustainable world.

Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage

CSS refers to the process by which CO2 is separated, conditioned, compressed and transported to a storage location for long-term isolation from the atmosphere.

Carbone Intensity

The quantity of emissions of CO2 released per unit of another variable such as GDP, output energy use or transport.

Carbon sequestration

The process of storing carbon in a carbon pool such as blue carbon, CCS, carbon uptake or sink.

Climate target

Refers to a temperature limit, concentration level, or emissions reduction goal used towards the aim of avoiding manmade interference with the climate system. For example, national climate targets may aim to reduce emissions by a certain amount over a given time horizon.

Carbon price

The price for avoided or released CO2 or CO2-equivalent emissions (rate of carbon tax per ton emitted or price of emission permit). Carbon pricing enables to evaluate the economic costs of mitigation.

Due diligence

The careful examination of the strengths and weaknesses of an item/target. In the context of ESG, such an examination considers environmental, social, and governance aspects. Due diligence thus reveals risks, value enhancement potential and eliminates information disparities.

Double materiality

A process in which companies consider both the impact of sustainability issues on their own business (outside-in) and the impact of their own business on sustainability issues (inside-out).

Decarbonization

The process by which countries, individuals, or entities aim to achieve zero fossil carbon existence.

Deforestation

Conversion of forest to non-forest.

Decoupling

When economic growth is no longer strongly associated with consumption of fossil fuels. Relative decoupling is when both grow but at different rates. Absolute decoupling is where economic growth happens but fossil fuels decline.

ESG criteria

Three criteria are to be increasingly addressed in companies and in doing so will lead to a more sustainable world. The criteria are environmental, social, and governance. To put it simply, the ESG criteria are intended to make companies more aware of their impact on the outside world, but also to combat internal inequalities.

ESG

A term under which environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) aspects of a company are evaluated and assessed by investors.

EFRAG, European Financial Reporting Advisory Group

A non-profit association founded in 2001. Its main task is to support the European Commission with the integration of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). EFRAG, therefore, advises the European Commission on which of those standards to adopt in the European Union.

EU Sustainable Development Strategy

A plan, first formulated in 2001. Its goal was to make the EU a more sustainable and resource-efficient place in the long term. In 2016, the EU Sustainable Development Strategy was finally adopted by the EU as part of a framework. It obliges all member states to comply with this framework.

Emission scenario

Plausible representation of the future development of emissions of substances that are radiatively active based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about driving forces and their key relationships.

Ecosystem

Functional unit consisting of living organisms, their non-living environment, and the interactions within and between them.

Framework

Policies set forth in a work, that establish practices of a particular field. In the context of ESG, these rulebooks mainly relate to reporting standards and practices. Frameworks thus make reports comparable and allow measurability in complex areas.

Feasibility

The degree to which climate goals and response options are considered possible and desirable. Depends on geophysical, ecological, technological, economic, social, and institutional conditions for change.

Greenwashing

A term used to describe a company's outward efforts to be particularly sustainable and ecological without actually being so. This can occur in connection with donations or special PR measures. For example, when a company donates large sums of money to a sustainable organization in order to conceal unsustainable production in the company.

GHG Protocol, Green House Gas Protocol

An institution that sets standards for how greenhouse gases can be measured. This applies to private, and public sectors as well as to value chains and mitigation actions. The GHG Protocol is often used for reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Projects (CDP).

GRI, Global Reporting Initiative

The Global Reporting Initiative is an organization that sets standards regarding critical ESG data. These standards help organizations and businesses be transparent and fully understand their impacts on climate change, human rights, and corruption.

Green Deal

The European Green Deal is a concept that aims to make the European Union carbon-neutral by 2050. To this end, it addresses areas such as sustainable finance, energy supply, and infrastructure.

Governance (all types and capacity)

A comprehensive and inclusive concept of the full range of means for deciding, managing, implementing, and monitoring policies and measures. The ability of governance to co-ordinate, fund, implement, evaluate, and adjust policies and measures over the short, medium, and long term, adjusting for uncertainty, rapid change and wide-ranging impacts and multiple actors and demands.

IFRS, International Financial Reporting Standards

Guidelines according to which companies should prepare their financial statements. They are issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and are intended to facilitate internationally comparable financial statements.

ISSB, International Sustainability Standards Board

A framework currently developed by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRSF). This framework is intended to serve as a global basis for sustainable disclosure. It covers all ESG topics and intents to lead to greater transparency, fairness, and equality in operations.

Impact assessment

The practice of identifying and evaluating, in monetary and/or non-monetary terms, the effects of climate change on natural and human systems.

LCA, Life Cycle Assessment

A process by which the environmental impact of a particular thing is evaluated. LCA, therefore, helps you determine whether a product has had a particularly negative or particularly positive effect on the world. In understanding your impact on the environment, this is critical information – not only for customers but also for companies.

Maladaptive actions

Actions that may lead to increased risk of adverse climate-related scenarios, including via increased GHG emissions, increased vulnerability to climate change. These actions are usually unintended consequences.

Mitigation measures

In policy, mitigation measures are technologies, processes or practices that contribute to mitigation such as renewable energies.

NFRD, Non-Financial Reporting Directive

A directive requiring large, publicly traded companies to make sustainability disclosures. The directive was adopted in 2014 and has been mandatory in the EU since 2018. The directive is currently being reformed. The changes are expected to affect the 2023 financial year.

Negative emissions

Removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities, in addition to the removal via natural carbon cycle processes.

Net Zero, Net Zero Carbon Emissions

A term that expresses climate neutrality. A net zero company, therefore, emits no CO₂. This means that the carbon dioxide emissions of a company have been calculated, contained, and offset. In this way, CO2 emissions caused can be weighed against those avoided.

Non-Financial Statement

A report by a company that relates to non-financial information, such as environmental, social, or governance (ESG) Information. In the EU, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) requires public-interest companies with more than 500 members to prepare a Non-Financial Statement according to the NFRD criteria.

Net zero CO2 emissions

Achieved when anthropogenic CO2 emissions are balanced globally by anthropogenic CO2 removals over a specific period. For this report, the term will be used between quotation marks.

Net negative emissions

Situation when, because of human activities, more greenhouse gas emissions are removed from the atmosphere than are emitted into it.

Pathways (RCPs)

The temporal evolution of natural and/or human systems towards a future state (quantitative of qualitative scenarios or narratives).

Reference period

The period relative to which anomalies are computed.

Representative concentration pathways

Scenarios that include time series of emissions and concentrations of the full suite of GHGs, aerosols, and chemically active gases, as well as land use and land cover.

Reforestation

Planting of forests on lands that have previously contained forests but that have been converted to some other use.

Supply Chain Act

The Supply Chain Act or Lieferkettengesetz is a law coming into force in 2023. It obliges German companies to take various measures for a more sustainable supply chain. These include, for example, a commitment to a grievance mechanism and compliance with human rights throughout the supply chain.

Sustainable maturity

A term that evaluates companies in terms of their environmental, social, and governmental awareness and resulting actions. By determining sustainable maturity, companies obtain information on their current status, open potentials, risks, and challenges regarding sustainable efforts.

Sustainability Report

A report in which companies prepare ESG data for external parties and present it in a comprehensible form.

SDGs

The 17 global goals for development for all countries established by the United Nations through a participatory process and elaborated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sequestration (or uptake)

The addition of substance of concern to a reservoir.

SASB, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board

A non-profit organization that issues guidelines for sustainable accounting standards. It was founded in 2011. Since August 1, 2022, SASB has been integrated into the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) Foundation. Its standards have been under the supervision of the ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) since then.

SDG, Sustainable Development Goals

17 goals aimed directly at prosperity, health, and peace on our planet. In 2015, all 193 member states of the United Nations (UN/UNO) committed to them. The overarching concern of these goals is to end poverty and oppression. To that end, the 17 points address education, health, inequality, economic growth, climate change, forest conservation, and ocean cleanup.

TCFD, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures

A body established by the FSB (Financial Stability Board). Its task is to make proposals on the type of information that companies should disclose to investors and other stakeholders.

Temperature overshoot

Temporary exceedance of specified level of global warming (such as 1.5 degree Celsius).

Taxonomy

A uniform method by which things can be divided into categories or classes. In the context of ESG, taxonomy is often meant in the context of the European Taxonomy Regulation. This regulation contains criteria for determining whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable. As a result, companies that want to market a product as sustainable are required to comply with these specifications.

Zero emission commitment

Climate change commitment that would result from setting anthropogenic emissions to zero. It is determined by both inertia in physical climate system components and carbon cycle inertia.

Resources

Do You Fall Under the EU Taxonomy and the LkSG (German Supply Chain Act)? Read This! (Shortcut and Framework Combination)

Introducing the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (EU CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS)

How to Calculate the Carbon Footprint of Your Company (Everything You Need To Know)

Subscribe to DaatoDigest

EU Deforestation Regulation and how to comply

5 ESG Frameworks to Know

The principle of ‘rebuttable presumption’ in the ESRS

Consolidated global reporting: the harmonisation of ESG reporting frameworks

Grievance Mechanisms and the Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (LkSG)

Double materiality and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards

How to implement a risk management system in the supply chain

How Supply Chain Mapping Helps Sustainability Performance

What is supply chain sustainability and why is it Important?

Why You Should Track Your Supply Chain Emissions

Finally More Clarity on the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act

5 tips to achieve a green supply chain

What is corporate social responsibility (CSR)?

The GHG Protocol and its importance on climate reporting

What is GRI and how to use it

What you need to know about the ISSB and IFRS

Understanding the E in ESG

EFRAG and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards

The what, why, and how of corporate sustainability

Understanding the 'S' in ESG

Getting the ‘G’ in ESG

How to choose the best sustainability software for your company

A guide to sustainability reporting standards and which one to use

European Council and Parliament agree on changes of the CSRD

Everything you need to know about ESG criteria list

ESG: What it is and why it’s important

Sustainable taxonomies: A global imperative

ESG reporting challenges in the banking and insurance industry

Revised CSRD to be implemented from 1 January 2024 onwards

Where to start with SASB reporting

ESG reporting challenges in the chemicals industry

Where to start with GRI reporting

ESG reporting challenges in the oil & gas industry

EU to ban products made with forced labour

ESG reporting challenges in the automotive industry

Strategies for greenwashing risks mitigation

The SEC has a new proposal for ESG funds - here’s what you need to know

ESG reporting challenges in the metals and mining industry

France’s due diligence law and what it means for companies

International working group to align ESG reporting standards

The challenges of Lieferkettengesetz/the German Supply Chain Act

What you need to know about EFRAG’s new exposure drafts

Climate paralysis? Where to start with TCFD

Canada adopts TCFD recommendations in first climate disclosure mandate

A guide to collecting ESG data from your supply chain

Foreign firms in the EU must soon play by the same ESG rules

Why companies serious about ESG are using software as a strategy

TCFD-aligned reporting is now legally binding in the UK

The biggest challenge in ESG reporting

The proposed IFRS sustainability disclosure standards explained

EU Taxonomy extension proposes two new economic categories

The challenges of ESG data management for the real estate business

The EU supply chain law and what it means for companies

What do you need to know about the SEC's proposed climate disclosure regulation?

EU member states propose changes to CSRD timeline and scope

The EU green claims initiative and what it means for your business

The Sustainable Corporate Governance Directive and what it means for your business

The Climate Standard you will have to report on soon

Tired of Excel? Switch to specialized ESG reporting software.

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive

Supply Chain Law and its implications for businesses

EU Commission's proposed Battery Regulation and its impact on businesses

Green Taxonomy and what it means for EU Businesses

EU Supply Chain Act: Everything Your Company Needs to Know

Portfolio Taxonomy Alignment for Investment Firms

Your step-by-step guide to build an effective compliance strategy

November 26, 2022

The most important reporting frameworks for your company

October 6, 2022

WEBINAR-AUFZEICHNUNG

LkSG-Webinar Serie, Interview mit Dr. Kiri Trier

Februar 3, 2023

Everything you need to know about the upcoming European directive

October 6, 2022

Check what you can expect from the German Supply Chain law and how ready your organization is