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AccountAbility 1000 (AA1000)
Provides a systematic, inclusive and credible approach to improving social and ethical accountability and overall performance. The AA1000 Framework was developed by UK-based AccountAblility to address the need for organisations to integrate their stakeholder engagement processes into daily activities. The framework provides guidance to users on how to establish a systematic stakeholder engagement process that generates the indicators, targets, and reporting systems needed to ensure its effectiveness in impacting on decisions, activities, and overall organizational performance.

Accountability
The ability of an organisation, company or institution to give an account of its activities both as an explicit record of them, and as an acceptance of responsibility for them.

Alternative investment
Originally a catch-all term used for any socially responsible investment that did not fall into the category of a publicly traded security or mutual fund. Now describes any non-traditional investment vehicle.

Biodegradable
capable of being broken down by living organisms into humus material which can be easily assimilated into the environment without having any significant negative impact.


Biodiversity
the variety of different species, the genetic variability of each species, and the ecosystems that they form.

Carbon emissions
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most abundant greenhouse gas. Carbon emissions is used to refer to the largely anthropogenic (man made) production of CO2, created through burning fossil fuels, and from both small and large scale energy consuming activities.

Carbon trading
Carbon trading is the central pillar of international agreements aimed at slowing down climate change. If a company wishes to produce more than its carbon allowance, it must buy credits from others who are reducing emissions. If it emits less, it has allowances in hand that it can sell to companies not doing as well. Carbon trading refers to this market in carbon. Supporters of this market-based approach argue that carbon trading leads to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the most economical manner.

Child Labour
The employment of children, generally under the age of 15 or below compulsory schooling age. This is often very low paid work in hazardous or harmful working conditions and at the cost of the children's physical, educational, and psychological development.

Code of conduct
A formal statement of the values and business practices of a company and sometimes its suppliers. A code of conduct is a statement of minimum standards together with a pledge by the company to abide by them and to require its contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and licensees to do the same.

Common Investment Fund
Common Investment Funds (CIFs) are similar to Unit Trusts but they are set up specifically for charities.

Community Banks
For-profit, insured banks or savings institutions whose principal business is the permanent, long-term economic development of low and moderate income communities through targeting loan resources to their residents. Given the typically low to moderate-income customer base of development banks, they often rely on extra deposits from outside the community to fund their lending activity.

Corporate Governance
A generic term which describes the internal means by which corporations are operated and controlled, and how rights and responsibilities are shared between the various corporate participants, especially the management and the shareholders.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Corporate Citizenship A social, ethical and environmentally responsible approach to business activity by which a company:
• recognises that its activities have a wider impact on the society in which it operates and that it   owes a greater duty to that society than merely making profits legally;
• actively manages the social, environmental and ethical impact of its activities across the world, reaping benefits both for its own operations and reputation as well as for the communities in which it operates;
• seeks to achieve these benefits by co-operating with other groups and organisations - local communities, other companies and governments.
This concept is derived from principles of sustainable development.

Corporate Sustainability
The capability of a company to continue its activities indefinitely, taking into account their impact on financial, social and environmental capitals. Companies achieve this by integrating environmental, social and economic criteria into strategy and management.

Climate Change
the change in climate over a time period which ranges from decades to centuries, resulting from natural causes, or which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere.