Arabic Sustainability Dictionary

Board of directors

The governing body elected by shareholders to oversee a company's management, strategy and risk.

Bribery

Offering, giving, requesting or accepting something of value to improperly influence a person's actions.

Brine

Highly concentrated salt water rejected by desalination plants, whose discharge can harm marine ecosystems.

Business conduct

A company's corporate culture, ethics, anti-corruption, supplier relationships, political engagement and payment practices; covered by ESRS G1.

Business ethics

The principles and standards that guide behaviour in business, such as honesty, fairness and integrity.

Carbon accounting

The measurement, calculation and recording of an organisation's greenhouse gas emissions according to recognised standards.

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

An EU mechanism that puts a carbon price on imports of selected carbon-intensive goods (cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen) to prevent carbon leakage; importers reported embedded emissions during the 2023–2025 transitional period, and the definitive regime with CBAM certificates applies from 2026.

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)

Technologies that capture CO2 from industrial sources or power plants and either use it in products or store it permanently underground.

Carbon credit

A tradable certificate representing one tonne of CO2e reduced, avoided or removed by a project, verified under a recognised standard.

Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)

A unit that expresses the warming effect of any greenhouse gas as the quantity of carbon dioxide with the same global warming potential over a given period, usually 100 years.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR)

Human activities that capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store it durably, such as afforestation, soil carbon sequestration or direct air capture with storage.

Carbon footprint

The total greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organisation, product, activity or person, expressed in CO2e.

Carbon footprint report

A report quantifying an organisation's greenhouse gas emissions for a period, often required by regulators and sometimes subject to independent verification.

Carbon intensity

Greenhouse gas emissions per unit of output or economic activity, such as tonnes of CO2e per million of revenue or per tonne of product.

Carbon leakage

The shift of production and emissions from jurisdictions with strict climate policies to those with weaker ones, which can undermine emission reductions.

Carbon neutrality

A claim that the net CO2 or CO2e emissions associated with an organisation, product or activity are zero, typically achieved through reductions combined with offsets.

Carbon price

A monetary cost attached to greenhouse gas emissions, set through a tax, an emissions trading system or a mechanism such as CBAM.

Carbon sink

A natural or artificial reservoir, such as forests, soils or oceans, that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.

Carbon tax

A tax levied on the carbon content of fuels or on greenhouse gas emissions, setting a fixed price per tonne of CO2e.

CBAM certificate

A certificate that an authorised CBAM declarant must buy and surrender to cover the embedded emissions of imported goods, priced by reference to the EU ETS.

CBAM default values

Embedded-emission values published by the European Commission for use when actual installation data are not available.

CDP (CDP)

A global non-profit, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, that runs an annual disclosure system through which companies report environmental data to investors and customers.

CEO duality

The situation in which one person holds both the chair of the board and the chief executive role, generally considered to weaken board oversight.

CEO pay ratio

The ratio of the chief executive's total annual compensation to the median annual compensation of all other employees.

Chief sustainability officer (CSO)

The senior executive responsible for leading an organisation's sustainability strategy and performance.

Child labour

Work that deprives children of their childhood, potential and dignity, or that is harmful to their physical or mental development, as defined by ILO conventions.

Circular Carbon Economy (CCE)

A framework, endorsed by the G20 in 2020 under the Saudi presidency, for managing emissions through four Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle and remove.

Circular economy

An economic model that keeps products and materials in use at their highest value for as long as possible and designs out waste and pollution.

Climate change

A long-term change in climate patterns, which in current usage refers mainly to warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate change adaptation

Adjustments in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate effects, to reduce harm or exploit beneficial opportunities.