Glossary
Carbon, CSRD and EPR terms, defined.
Plain definitions of the terms that come up in carbon, CSRD / ESRS E1 and UK packaging EPR reporting — each attributed to the standard it comes from. This is general information, not legal advice.
- CSRDEU / EFRAG
- The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which requires in-scope companies to report sustainability information prepared under the ESRS.
- ESRSEFRAG
- European Sustainability Reporting Standards, developed by EFRAG, that set the disclosure requirements under the CSRD.
- ESRS E1EFRAG / ESRS
- The climate change topical standard within the ESRS, covering greenhouse-gas emissions, energy, climate targets and transition plans. See CSRD / ESRS E1 reporting.
- Double materialityESRS
- The ESRS principle of assessing both how sustainability matters affect the company (financial materiality) and the company’s impacts on people and the environment (impact materiality).
- GHG ProtocolGreenhouse Gas Protocol
- The most widely used standards for corporate greenhouse-gas accounting; it defines Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
- Scope 1 emissionsGHG Protocol
- Direct greenhouse-gas emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company. See Scope 1, 2 & 3 explained.
- Scope 2 emissionsGHG Protocol
- Indirect greenhouse-gas emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heat, steam or cooling.
- Scope 3 emissionsGHG Protocol
- All other indirect emissions in a company’s value chain, upstream and downstream.
- Location-based & market-based (Scope 2)GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance
- Two Scope 2 accounting methods: location-based reflects the average emissions intensity of the grid; market-based reflects contractual instruments such as a supply tariff or certificate.
- Emission factorGHG Protocol / DESNZ
- A coefficient that converts a unit of activity (for example kWh, litre or km) into greenhouse-gas emissions.
- DESNZ / Defra conversion factorsDESNZ (with Defra)
- The UK Government greenhouse-gas conversion factors, published for organisational reporting.
- EEAEuropean Environment Agency
- The European Environment Agency, whose indicators include the greenhouse-gas emission intensity of electricity generation by country.
- SECRUK Government
- Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting — the UK framework under which large companies disclose energy use, greenhouse-gas emissions and at least one intensity ratio in their annual report. See SECR reporting.
- EPR (packaging)Defra
- Extended Producer Responsibility — a policy approach that makes producers responsible for the costs of managing, at end of life, the packaging they place on the market. See UK packaging EPR.
- RPD (Report Packaging Data)Defra
- The Defra data submission through which UK producers report the packaging they place on the market. See the RPD guide.
- XBRLXBRL International / EFRAG
- eXtensible Business Reporting Language — an open standard for machine-readable business reporting; ESRS disclosures are tagged in XBRL using the EFRAG taxonomy. See ESRS E1 XBRL tagging.
- Intensity ratioGHG Protocol / SECR
- Emissions expressed per unit of an activity or output — for example tonnes of CO₂e per £m of revenue.
- LEIISO 17442
- Legal Entity Identifier — a 20-character code that uniquely identifies a legal entity, used for example as the entity identifier in an XBRL filing.