Glossary

Glossary

accreditation

Third-party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying formal demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. (ISO 17000:2004, 5.6) The ANSI National Accreditation Board accredits greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies in the United States.

Note: the terms “accreditation” and “certification” are sometimes used as synonyms, although such usage is discouraged by conformity assessment specialists.

Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA)

The Airports Council International – North America (ACI-NA) represents local, regional and state governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports in the United States and Canada. Over 350 aviation-related businesses (including Futurepast) are also members of ACI-NA, providing goods and services to airports. ACI-NA is the largest of the five worldwide regions of Airports Council International (ACI). Learn more about the ACI-NA program, Airport Carbon Accreditation.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

A not-for-profit organization founded in 1918 with the mission to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity. More information is available at the ANSI website.

CAAFI (Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative)

Since 2006 the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) has sought to enhance energy security and environmental sustainability for aviation by exploring the use of alternative jet fuels. CAAFI is a coalition of airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, energy producers, researchers, international participants and U.S. government agencies. Together these stakeholders are leading the development and deployment of alternative jet fuels for commercial aviation. Get more information about Futurepast’s involvement with CAAFI and with alternative aviation fuels.

California Air Resources Board

A board, operating under the umbrella authority of the State of California Environmental Protection Agency, charged with establishing and enforcing clean air regulations, including those related to climate change.

carbon offset

A carbon offset is a financial instrument aimed at a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon offsets are measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent and may represent six primary categories of greenhouse gases. One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases. Source: Wikipedia article on Carbon neutrality.

climate change

A change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. (Definition of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, quoted in Joint science academies statement ‘Global response to climate change’.

Climate Registry

The Climate Registry is a nonprofit collaboration between North American states, provinces, territories, and Native Sovereign Nations to record and track the greenhouse gas emissions of businesses, municipalities and other organisations. The Climate Registry’s Board of Directors is made up of 42 states in the USA, 11 provinces/territories in Canada, six states in Mexico, and four Native Sovereign Nations. The data is to be independently verified to ensure accuracy, however participation by organizations is voluntary. Data submitted to the Climate Registry is inputted into the Climate Registry Information System (CRIS), which was developed on EPA’s CRAVe-EATS platform. Source: Wikipedia article on The Climate Registry.

disclosure

Under US Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, publicly traded companies are required to disclose information about material financial impacts attributed to climate change. Other companies, whether publicly traded or not, that have contractual obligations to implement standards published by ASTM International may also be required to disclose information about climate change impacts. SEC regulations were developed in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

environmental claim

Statement, symbol or graphic that indicates an environmental aspect of a product, component or packaging. Note: An environmental claim may be made on product or packaging labels, through product literature, technical bulletins, advertising, publicity, telemarketing, as well as through digital or electronic media such as the Internet. (ISO 14021:2016, Environmental labels and declarations‚ “Self-declared environmental claims” (Type II environmental labeling), 3.1.4.)

Federal Aviation Administration (US)

Agency of the US federal government whose mission it is ‘to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.’ The agency strives ‘to reach the next level of safety, efficiency, environmental responsibility and global leadership. We are accountable to the American public and our stakeholders.’

greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are gases in an atmosphere that absorb electromagnetic radiation and emit electromagnetic radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The main greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. In our solar system, the atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause greenhouse effects. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth’s surface would be on average about 33°C (59°F) colder than at present. Source: Wikipedia article on ‘greenhouse gas’.

greenhouse gas inventory

List of GHG sources and GHG sinks, and their quantified GHG emissions and GHG removals. (ISO 14064:2018, Greenhouse gases “Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals”, 3.2.6.)

greenhouse gas project

A greenhouse gas project is a managed initiative to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases from specified activities for the purpose of creating recognized emission reductions.

To prove that the project will result in real, permanent, verifiable reductions in greenhouse gases, proof must be provided in the form of a project design document and activity reports validated and verified by an approved third party. (Adapted from Wikipedia article on ‘Carbon Project’.) Carbon projects may be developed for use as compliance instruments in the cap-and-trade programs operating in California, Quebec, and Europe, or for trading in the voluntary market.

greenhouse gas emission

Release of a GHG into the atmosphere. (ISO 14064-1:2018 , Greenhouse gases–Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals, 3.1.5.)

ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organization

A specialized agency of the United Nations, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. It sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency and regularity, as well as for aviation environmental protection. The Organization serves as the forum for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 191 Member States.

ISO – International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization, widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards. It has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

While ISO defines itself as a non-governmental organization, its ability to set standards that often become law, either through treaties or national standards, makes it more powerful than most non-governmental organizations. In practice, ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to governments. Source: Wikipedia.

ISO 9000/9001

The ISO 9000 family of standards is related to quality management systems and designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to the product. The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and are available through national standards bodies. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of quality management systems, including the eight management principles on which the family of standards is based. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard have to fulfill.

Third party certification bodies provide independent confirmation that organizations meet the requirements of ISO 9001. More than one million organizations worldwide are independently certified, making ISO 9001 one of the most widely used management tools in the world today. Source Wikipedia.

ISO 14001

The ISO 14000 family of standards addresses various aspects of environmental management. It provides practical tools for companies and organizations looking to identify and control their environmental impacts and constantly improve their environmental performance. ISO 14001 focuses on environmental management systems. The other standards in the family focus on specific environmental aspects such as environmental labeling, environmental performance evaluation, life cycle analysis, and greenhouse gas management.

ISO Technical Committee 207

The scope of ISO Technical Committee 207 is ‘standardization in the field of environmental management to address environmental and climate impacts, including related social and economic aspects, in support of sustainable development.’ The scope excludes ‘test methods of pollutants, setting limit values and levels ofenvironmental performance, and standardization of products.’

life-cycle assessment

Compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle. (ISO 14040:2006, Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework, 3.2.)

management system

A management system is the framework of processes and procedures used to ensure that an organization can fulfill all tasks required to achieve its objectives. For instance, an environmental management system (EMS) enables organizations to improve their environmental performance through a process of continual improvement. An oversimplification is ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’.

A more complete system would include accountability (an assignment of personal responsibility) and a schedule of activities to be completed, as well as auditing tools to implement corrective actions in addition to scheduled activities, creating an upward spiral of continuous improvement.

As in the case of an EMS, an occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) enables an organization to control its occupational health and safety risks and to improve its performance by means of continuous improvement.

Plan-Do-Check-Act

PDCA (plan-do-check-act or plan-do-check-adjust) is an iterative four-step management method used in business for the control and continuous improvement of processes and products. It is also known as the Deming circle/cycle/wheel, Shewhart cycle, control circle/cycle, or plan-do-study-act (PDSA). Source: Wikipedia.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.

The objective of the treaty is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (manmade) interference with the climate system. The treaty itself sets no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. In that sense, the treaty is considered legally non-binding. Instead, the treaty provides for updates (called ‘protocols’) that would set mandatory emission limits. The principal update is the Kyoto Protocol, which has become much better known than the UNFCCC itself. Source: Wikipedia.

verification

Process for evaluating a statement of historical data and information to determine if the statement is materially correct and conforms to criteria, and the citation to read “(ISO 14064-3:2019, Greenhouse gases—Specification with guidance for the verification and validation of greenhouse gas statements, 3.6.2.)