The term Green Hushing refers to false or misleading claims of corporate sustainability, and is used when a company has announced a climate goal, but does not intend to clearly advertise its commitment to achieving it.
It is the so-called “green silence”.
This can complicate the assessment of corporate climate goals, limit knowledge sharing on decarbonisation, lead to less ambitious goals and miss opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration.
Anaerobic digestion is a biological process in which microorganisms decompose organic matter in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas, a methane-rich gas used as a renewable energy source.
Anaerobic digestion occurs in a closed environment called an anaerobic reactor.
The process involves bacteria that transform organic matter into a mixture of biogas and residual liquid called digestate.
Anaerobic digestion is a sustainable technology that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, manage organic waste and produce renewable energy.
“Carbon zero” is a term similar to “carbon neutrality” and indicates the same goal of balancing the emissions of greenhouse gases produced by human activities with the ability of the Earth to absorb them.
In general, the term “carbon zero” refers to situations where the net environmental impact of human activities on the environment is zero in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, while the term “carbon neutrality” refers to situations where greenhouse gas emissions are balanced by a compensatory action that removes or reduces carbon emissions from the atmosphere.
Both terms are important targets for combating climate change and require concrete actions such as the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The BS 8001 standard is the English standard published in 2017 by the British standardization body BSI.
It is the first standard explicitly created to guide companies in the transition to more circular production models and allows to measure the degree of circular maturity achieved by an organization.
The BS 8001 standard aims to help organizations and individuals to consider and implement more circular and sustainable practices within their businesses, introducing better ways of working, providing more circular products and services or redesigning their entire business model.
The AFNOR XP X30-901 standard is the French standard published in 2018 by the AFNOR standardization body and is the only international reference for the implementation of a management system for the circular economy of an organization.
It was created to be an international reference point for all companies that want to adopt circular solutions within their value chain, production systems or service delivery.
It also allows organizations to provide a methodology for managing and reporting on one or more projects for the transition to circular economy models.
Carbon Neutrality consists in achieving a balance between the emissions of greenhouse gases produced by human activities and the absorption capacity of the planet.
In order to achieve this, which the EU has declared as a target to be achieved by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions must be drastically reduced through more sustainable practices and the use of clean technologies, such as renewable energy sources.
In addition, it may be necessary to offset residual emissions through forest conservation, sustainable agriculture and other methods that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
ISO 14040 is an international standard that provides guidelines for life cycle assessment (LCA) of products and services.
The standard describes the principles and requirements for carrying out a life cycle analysis and establishes the procedures for the environmental impact assessment.
Life Cycle Analysis is a methodology used to assess the environmental impact of a product or service throughout its life cycle, from production to disposal.
ISO 14040 establishes the following principles for life cycle analysis:
The use of ISO 14040 provides useful information to improve the sustainability of products and services and to promote the adoption of sustainable practices in industry.
The carbon footprint is a measure of the environmental impact of human activities, in particular greenhouse gas emissions from energy consumption, transport use, industrial and agricultural activities, and waste management.
The carbon footprint measures the emissions, in particular, of carbon dioxide (CO2), but also of other gases such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), emitted into the atmosphere due to human activities.
The carbon footprint can be calculated at the individual, company or entire country level, and is expressed in tons of CO2 equivalent.
The calculation of the carbon footprint takes into account all phases of the life cycle of a product or service, from production to distribution, from consumption to disposal, and evaluates the energy used, the materials used, the distances travelled and other variables.
The carbon footprint has become an important tool in the fight against climate change, as it allows the identification of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions and the identification of the actions needed to reduce them.
The Green Deal is a comprehensive plan proposed by the European Union (EU) to tackle climate change and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The main goal of the Green Deal is to transform the EU’s economy to a sustainable, low-carbon, and circular economy that will benefit both the environment and society.
The Green Deal focuses on several key areas, including:
The Green Deal is a significant and ambitious initiative that requires a collective effort from all EU Member States, businesses, and citizens to achieve its goals.
Environmental Social Governance (ESG) is a set of criteria that are used by investors and companies to assess the degree of sustainability and social responsibility of business activities.
In particular, the ESG criteria are divided into three main categories:
The adoption of ESG criteria has become increasingly important in recent years, as these factors are increasingly relevant to investors and consumers who want to support companies with a sustainable footprint.
The environmental certification is a certificate that certifies through technical and regulatory criteria, the commitment of a company to limit its negative impact on the environment.
It is issued by independent bodies (in Italy, Accredia) that evaluate the policies, processes and products of the organization and confirm that they comply with certain environmental standards.
There are several environmental certifications available globally, including ISO 14001 certification, which sets out requirements for an environmental management system, and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certificationwhich assesses the environmental impact of buildings and promotes sustainability, the Ecolabel and EMAS.
Environmental certification can lead to several benefits for companies, including greater environmental compliance, compliance with environmental regulations, cost reduction through energy efficiency and the use of sustainable materials and differentiation from the point of view of competition.
In addition, environmental certification can also increase consumer confidence in the company’s products and practices and improve the company’s reputation.
The environmental label is a labelling and certification system that is used to identify products that have a reduced environmental impact compared to other similar products on the market.
The Environmental Label aims to declare the sustainability characteristics of a product or service.
They are fundamental tools to combat the practice of Green Washing by bodies, organizations and companies, so as to make communication to the final consumer as transparent as possible, so that they can make more sustainable purchasing choices.
In addition, the environmental label can also motivate companies to produce more sustainable products, as companies that obtain the environmental label can stand out from the competition and gain a reputation for sustainability.
In Europe, the most well-known environmental labelling system is the EU Ecolabel, which indicates that the product has been produced according to strict environmental standards established by the European Union.
Renewable energies are those sources of energy that regenerate naturally over time and do not run out, such as the sun, wind, water, biomass and geothermal energy, and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit climate change.
These energy sources are becoming increasingly important globally, as they represent a sustainable alternative to non-renewable energy sources, such as oil, gas and coal, that are finite and produce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Renewable energies can be used to produce electricity, heating, cooling and transport.
Among the technologies used for the production of renewable energy are photovoltaic solar panels for the production of solar energy, wind turbines for the production of wind energy, hydroelectric power plants for the production of hydroelectric power and geothermal systems for the production of geothermal energy.
Sustainable Finance is that branch of finance that operates within the market by analysing investments through two main instruments: ESG criteria and Socially Responsible Investment (ESG).
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