ESG Glossary: 60 Terms Every Sustainability Professional in India Must Know

The ESG and carbon markets come with an alphabet soup of acronyms, frameworks, and technical terms that can be overwhelming for professionals entering the field. This glossary covers 60 of the most important terms you will encounter in India's sustainability landscape — from regulatory frameworks to carbon market mechanics to reporting standards.

A–C: Additionality to CSRD

Additionality: A carbon project is 'additional' if the emission reductions would not have occurred without the existence of carbon credit revenue. Additionality is a fundamental quality criterion for carbon credits. Article 6: The section of the Paris Agreement governing international carbon trading. Enables countries to transfer emission reductions (ITMOs) between each other. BRSR: Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting — India's mandatory ESG disclosure framework for listed companies, introduced by SEBI. BRSR Core: A subset of BRSR with 9 specific KPIs requiring independent assurance. CBAM: Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism — the EU policy imposing a carbon charge on carbon-intensive imports. Carbon Credit Certificate (CCC): The tradable unit under India's CCTS scheme, equivalent to one tonne of CO2 reduced. CCTS: Carbon Credit Trading Scheme — India's domestic carbon market for industrial sectors. CDP: Carbon Disclosure Project — global platform for corporate environmental disclosure. CSRD: Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive — the EU's mandatory sustainability reporting framework, affecting large EU companies and their suppliers.

D–I: Double Materiality to I-RECs

Double Materiality: An ESG reporting principle (under CSRD) requiring companies to report both how sustainability issues affect the company (financial materiality) and how the company affects society and environment (impact materiality). Emission Factor: A coefficient that converts activity data (fuel consumed, electricity purchased) into greenhouse gas emissions. GHG Protocol: The world's most widely used standard for corporate greenhouse gas measurement. Green Bond: A bond where proceeds are earmarked for environmental projects. Greenwashing: Making misleading or unsubstantiated environmental claims. I-REC: International Renewable Energy Certificate — a market-based instrument representing 1 MWh of renewable electricity generated. Insetting: Emission reductions achieved within a company's own value chain, as opposed to offsetting through external projects. ITMO: Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcome — emission reductions transferred between countries under Article 6.2.

L–Z: LCA to VCS

LCA: Life Cycle Assessment — a methodology for measuring the total environmental impact of a product from raw material extraction to disposal. Nature-Based Solutions (NbS): Climate interventions that harness natural ecosystems — forests, wetlands, soils — for carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Net Zero: A state where an organisation's emissions are reduced to as close to zero as possible, with unavoidable residual emissions balanced by permanent carbon removal. PAT Scheme: India's Perform Achieve and Trade scheme for industrial energy efficiency. Permanence: The durability of a carbon sequestration or reduction — critical quality criterion for carbon credits. REC: Renewable Energy Certificate — India's domestic instrument certifying 1 MWh of renewable energy (different from I-REC). REDD+: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation — a UN framework for forest carbon credits. SBTi: Science Based Targets initiative — validates corporate emission reduction targets against Paris Agreement science. Scope 1/2/3: GHG Protocol categories for direct emissions, indirect electricity emissions, and value chain emissions. TCFD: Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures — the most widely adopted framework for climate risk disclosure. TNFD: Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures — the parallel framework for nature and biodiversity risk. VCS: Verified Carbon Standard —erra's voluntary carbon certification standard, the world's most widely used. VCU: Verified Carbon Unit — the tradable credit generated by a VCS project.