Glossary and abbreviations

Launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in January 1999 at the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland, the Global Compact is a partnership between United Nations agencies, NGOs and the business world. According to Mr. Annan, the initiative aims to "unite the strength of markets with the authority of universal ideals," and take into account the environmental and social impacts of globalization.
The 10 principles of the Global Compact are that business should:

1. Support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights;
2. Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses;
3. Uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
4. Uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor;
5. Uphold the effective abolition of child labor;
6. Uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation;
7. Support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
8. Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility;
9. Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies;
10. Work against all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery.

Global Reporting Initiative

Global Reporting Initiative

Residual plant waste from gardening and green space maintenance. Garden waste, which is produced by individuals, is distinguished from municipal green waste, which is produced by community parks and engineering departments.

The atmosphere lets most of the sun's rays filter through to warm the surface of the earth. The earth re-radiates this energy into space as high wavelength infrared radiation. Water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gases absorb this radiation emitted by the earth, preventing the energy from passing directly from the earth's surface into space, and so heating up the atmosphere. The increased greenhouse gas content in the atmosphere acts like double-glazing: If the input of the sun's rays remains constant within the greenhouse, the temperature will rise.

(GHG) Greenhouse gases are gases that absorb a portion of the sun's rays, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), CFCs and HCFCs; synthetic gases that attack the ozone layer; and CFC substitutes, such as HFC, PFC and SF6. Veolia Environmental Services' emissions consist chiefly of CO2 and CH4. The latter has a greenhouse gas impact 21 times greater than CO2.

GWh