Glossary of Terms
Unless otherwise stated, all definitions contained in this section are derived from the GRI
Standards Glossary 2018.

Anti-competitive behavior
Action of the organization or employees that can result in collusion with potential competitors,
with the purpose of limiting competition on the markets.
Note: Examples of anti-competitive behavior actions can include fixing prices, coordinating
bids, creating market or output restrictions, imposing geographic quotas or allocating
customers, suppliers, geographic areas and product lines.

Child
Person under the age of 15 years, or under the age of completion of compulsory schooling,whichever is higher.
Note 1: Exceptions can occur in certain countries where economies and educational facilities
are insufficiently developed, and a minimum age of 14 years applies. These countries ofexception are specified by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in response to a special
application by the country concerned and in consultation with representative organizations ofemployers and workers.
Note 2: The ILO Convention 138, ‘Minimum Age Convention’, 1973, refers to both child labor andyoung workers.

Collective bargaining
All negotiations that take place between one or more employers or employers' organizations,on the one hand, and one or more workers' organizations (trade unions), on the other, fordetermining working conditions and terms of employment or for regulating relations between
employers and workers.
Note: This definition is based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 154,
‘Collective Bargaining Convention’, 1981.

Corruption‘Abuse of entrusted power for private gain’,1 which can be instigated by individuals ororganizations.
Note: Corruption includes practices such as bribery, facilitation payments, fraud, extortion,collusion, and money laundering. It also includes an offer or receipt of any gift, loan, fee, reward,or other advantage to or from any person as an inducement to do something that is dishonest,
illegal, or a breach of trust in the conduct of the enterprise’s business.2 This can include cash or
in-kind benefits, such as free goods, gifts, and holidays, or special personal services provided
for the purpose of an improper advantage, or that can result in moral pressure to receive suchan advantage.

Customer health and safety management approach
Company’s efforts to address health and safety across the life cycle of a product and its
adherence to customer health and safety regulations and voluntary codes. See also the GRI
standard n°416 – Customer health and safety (2016).

Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions
GHG emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by an organization.
Note 1: A GHG source is any physical unit or process that releases GHG into the atmosphere.
Note 2: Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions can include the CO2 emissions from fuel consumption.

Energy footprint
An organization’s consumption of energy in various forms, such as fuel, electricity, heating,cooling or steam. Energy can be self-generated or purchased from external sources and it cancome from renewable sources (such as wind, hydro or solar) or from non-renewable sources(such as coal, petroleum or natural gas). See also the GRI standard n°302 – Energy (2016).

Energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions
GHG emissions that result from the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, heating,cooling, and steam consumed by an organization.

1 https://www.transparency.org/what-is-corruption
2 These definitions are based on Transparency International, ‘Business Principles for Countering Bribery’, 2011.

2Equality of opportunity and fair treatment
Legal and socioeconomic environment that provides opportunities for gender equity. This caninclude the share of female workers performing the organization’s activities, their equal
remuneration, and their participation at the highest governance level. See also the GRI
standard n°405 – Diversity and equal opportunity (2016).

Forced labor
All work and service that is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and forwhich the said person has not offered herself or himself voluntarily.
Note: This definition is based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 29,‘Forced Labour Convention’, 1930.

Freedom of association
Right of employers and workers to form, to join and to run their own organizations without priorauthorization or interference by the state or any other entity.

Green chemistry
Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate
the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycleof a chemical product, including its design, manufacture, use, and ultimate disposal. Greenchemistry is also known as sustainable chemistry.
The 12 principles of green chemistry are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Prevent and reduce waste,
Design chemical products that possess little or no toxicity,
Design synthesis to use substances that possess little or no toxicity,
Use raw materials that are renewable rather than depleting,
Use catalytic agents so as to minimize the use of reactants and the production ofwaste,
6. Reduce derivatives,
7. Design synthetic method to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in theprocess into the final product,
8. Use safer solvents,
9. Design for energy efficiency: run chemical reactions at ambient temperature andpressure whenever possible,
10. Design chemical products to break down into innocuous degradation products and do
not persist in the environment,
11. Real-time analysis for pollution prevention to control and minimize the formation ofbyproducts,
12. Chose the form of a substance to minimize the potential for chemical accidents
including releases, explosions and fires.
Source: Anastas P.T., Warner J.C., 1998, Green Chemistry: Theory and practice3Greenhouse gas (GHG)
Gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Sum of all GHG emissions generated by the company activities. See also “Scope ofGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”.

Groundwater
Water that is being held in, and that can be recovered from, an underground formation.
Note: This definition comes from ISO 14046:2014.

International labor standards
Legal instruments drawn up by the ILO's constituents and setting out basic principles andrights at work. They are either conventions, which are legally binding international treaties that
may be ratified by member states, or recommendations, which serve as non-binding
guidelines. In many cases, a convention lays down the basic principles to be implemented by
ratifying countries, while a related recommendation supplements the convention by providing
more detailed guidelines on how it could be applied.
Conventions and recommendations are drawn up by representatives of governments,
employers and workers and are adopted at the ILO's annual International Labour Conference.
Once a standard is adopted, member states are required under the ILO Constitution to submit
them to their competent authority for consideration. In the case of conventions, this means
consideration for ratification. If it is ratified, a convention generally comes into force for thatcountry one year after the date of ratification. Ratifying countries commit themselves toapplying the convention in national law and practice and reporting on its application at regularintervals.
Topics covered by international labor standards:- Freedom of association;- Collective bargaining;- Forced labor;- Child labor;- Equality of opportunity and treatment;- Tripartite consultation;- Labor administration;- Labor inspection;- Employment policy;- Employment promotion;- Vocational guidance and training;- Employment security;- Social policy;

Wages;
Working time;
Occupational health and safety;
Social security;
Maternity protection;
Domestic workers;
Migrant workers;
Seafarers;
Fishers;
Dockworkers;
Indigenous and tribal peoples;
Other specific categories of workers.

For more information, go to www.ilo.org or download “Rules of the game; An introduction to thestandards-related work of the International Labour Organization”, International Labour Office,Geneva, 2019.

4Local community
Persons or groups of persons living and/or working in any areas that are economically, sociallyor environmentally impacted (positively or negatively) by an organization’s operations.
Note: The local community can range from persons living adjacent to an organization’s
operations, to those living at a distance who are still likely to be impacted by these operations.

Occupational health and safety
Healthy and safe work conditions involve both prevention of physical and mental harm, andpromotion of workers’ health.
Prevention of harm and promotion of health require an organization to demonstratecommitment to workers' health and safety. They also require the organization to engage
workers in the development, implementation, and performance evaluation of an occupational
health and safety policy, management system and programs that are appropriate to theorganization’s size and activities.
Hazard identification (see ‘Work-related hazard’) and risk assessment (see ‘Occupational
health and safety risk’), worker training, and incident identification and investigation (see‘Work-related incident’) are also key to planning, supporting, operating, and evaluating theoccupational health and safety management system. See also the GRI standard n°403 –Occupational health and safety (2016).

Occupational health and safety management system
Set of interrelated or interacting elements to establish an occupational health and safety policy
and objectives, and to achieve those objectives.
Note: This definition comes from the International Labour Organization (ILO), Guidelines on
Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems, ILO-OSH 2001, 2001.

Occupational health and safety risk
Combination of the likelihood of occurrence of a work-related hazardous situation or exposure,and the severity of injury or ill health that can be caused by the situation or exposure.
Note: This definition is based on ISO 45001:2018.

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Other indirect (Scope 3) GHG emissions
Indirect GHG emissions not included in energy indirect (Scope 2) GHG emissions that occur
outside of the organization, including both upstream and downstream emissions.

Science-based reduction targets
Targets adopted by companies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are considered‘science-based’ if they are in line with what the latest climate science says is necessary tomeet the goals of the Paris Agreement – to limit global warming to well-below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. For more information go tohttps://sciencebasedtargets.org/what-is-a-science-based-target/.

Scope of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Classification of the operational boundaries where GHG emissions occur.
Note 1: Scope classifies whether GHG emissions are created by an organization itself, or arecreated by other related organizations, for example electricity suppliers or logistics companies.
Note 2: There are three classifications of Scope: Scope 1 (see ‘Direct GHG emissions’), Scope 2(see ‘Energy indirect GHG emissions’) and Scope 3 (see ‘Other indirect GHG emissions’).
Note 3: The classification of Scope derives from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World
Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), ‘GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting
and Reporting Standard’, Revised Edition, 2004.

Seawater
Water in a sea or in an ocean.
Note: This definition comes from ISO 14046:2014.

Significant impact on biodiversity
Impact that can adversely affect the integrity of a geographic area or region, either directly orindirectly, by substantially changing its ecological features, structures, and functions acrossits whole area, and over the long term, so that habitat, its population levels, and the particularspecies that make the habitat important cannot be sustained.

Spill
Accidental release of a hazardous substance that can affect human health, land, vegetation,water bodies, and ground water.

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Stakeholder
Entity or individual that can reasonably be expected to be significantly affected by the reportingorganization’s activities, products and services, or whose actions can reasonably be expected
to affect the ability of the organization to successfully implement its strategies and achieve
its objectives.
Note 1: Stakeholders include entities or individuals whose rights under law or international
conventions provide them with legitimate claims vis-à-vis the organization.
Note 2: Stakeholders can include those who are invested in the organization (such as employees
and shareholders), as well as those who have other relationships to the organization (such asother workers who are not employees, suppliers, vulnerable groups, local communities, andNGOs or other civil society organizations, among others).

Supply chain
Sequence of activities or parties that provides products or services to an organization.

Surface water
Water that occurs naturally on the Earth’s surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, icebergs,bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams.
Note: This definition is based on CDP, CDP Water Security Reporting Guidance, 2018.

Third-party water
Municipal water suppliers and municipal wastewater treatment plants, public or private
utilities, and other organizations involved in the provision, transport, treatment, disposal, or useof water and effluent.

Training
Concept referring to:-all types of vocational training and instruction;
paid educational leave provided by an organization for its employees;
training or education pursued externally and paid for in whole or in part by an organization;
training on specific topics.

See also the GRI standard n°404 – Training and education (2016).

Waste disposal method
Method by which waste is treated or disposed of.
Note: Waste disposal methods can include composting, reuse, recycling, recovery, incineration,
landfill, deep well injection, and on-site storage.

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Waste footprint
The waste footprint of a company includes water discharges; the generation, treatment anddisposal of waste; and spills of chemicals, oils, fuels, and other substances.

Water discharge
Sum of effluents, used water, and unused water released to surface water, groundwater,seawater, or a third party, for which the organization has no further use, over the course of thereporting period. See also the GRI standard n°306 – Effluents and waste (2016).
Note 1: Water can be released into the receiving waterbody either at a defined discharge point(point-source discharge) or dispersed over land in an undefined manner (non-point-source
discharge).
Note 2: Water discharge can be authorized (in accordance with discharge consent) orunauthorized (if discharge consent is exceeded).

Water consumption
Sum of all water that has been withdrawn and incorporated into products, used in theproduction of crops or generated as waste, has evaporated, transpired, or been consumed byhumans or livestock, or is polluted to the point of being unusable by other users, and istherefore not released back to surface water, groundwater, seawater, or a third party over thecourse of the reporting period.
Note 1: Water consumption includes water that has been stored during the reporting period foruse or discharge in a subsequent reporting period.
Note 2: This definition is based on CDP, CDP Water Security Reporting Guidance, 2018.

Water withdrawal
Sum of all water drawn from surface water, groundwater, seawater, or a third party for any use
over the course of the reporting period.

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Work-related hazard
Source or situation with the potential to cause injury or ill health.
Note 1: Hazards can be:-physical (e.g., radiation, temperature extremes, constant loud noise, spills on floors ortripping hazards, unguarded machinery, faulty electrical equipment);
ergonomic (e.g., improperly adjusted workstations and chairs, awkward movements,vibration);chemical (e.g., exposure to solvents, carbon monoxide, flammable materials, or pesticides);biological (e.g., exposure to blood and bodily fluids, fungi, bacteria, viruses, or insect bites);
psychosocial (e.g., verbal abuse, harassment, bullying);
related to work-organization (e.g., excessive workload demands, shift work, long hours, nightwork, workplace violence).

Note 2: This definition is based on International Labour Organization (ILO) Guidelines on
Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems from 2001 and ISO 45001:2018.

Work-related incident
Occurrence arising out of or in the course of work that could or does result in injury or ill health.
Note 1: This definition is based on ISO 45001:2018.
Note 2: Incidents might be due to, for example, electrical problems, explosion, fire; overflow,overturning, leakage, flow; breakage, bursting, splitting; loss of control, slipping, stumbling andfalling; body movement without stress; body movement under/with stress; shock, fright;
workplace violence or harassment (e.g., sexual harassment).
Note 3: An incident that results in injury or ill health is often referred to as an ‘accident’. An
incident that has the potential to result in injury or ill health but where none occurs is often
referred to as a ‘close call’, ‘near-miss’, or ‘near-hit’.

Work-related injury or ill health
Negative impacts on health arising from exposure to hazards at work.
Note 1: This definition is based on the International Labour Organization (ILO), Guidelines on
Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems, ILO-OSH 2001, 2001.
Note 2: ‘Ill health’ indicates damage to health and includes diseases, illnesses, and disorders.
The terms ‘disease’, ‘illness’, and ‘disorder’ are often used interchangeably and refer toconditions with specific symptoms and diagnoses.
Note 3: Work-related injuries and ill health are those that arise from exposure to hazards at work.
Other types of incident can occur that are not connected with the work itself.
Note 4: For more guidance on determining ‘work-relatedness’, see the United States
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Determination of work-relatedness 1904.5.
Note 5: The terms ‘occupational’ and ‘work-related’ are often used interchangeably.

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