ESS terms in Natural resources

The worth people place on natural capital for its beauty and the pleasure of seeing or experiencing it, such as scenic mountains, coasts or lakes.

The breakdown of organic waste by microorganisms in a sealed tank without oxygen, producing biogas (mainly methane) used as fuel and digestate used as fertiliser.

A survey of the environmental and social conditions of a site before a development begins, used to predict and later measure the project’s impacts and to suggest mitigation.

The storage of electricity as chemical energy in rechargeable cells, usually lithium-ion, so that it can be released to the grid very quickly when needed.

The capacity of a material to be broken down by living organisms, mainly bacteria and fungi, into simple substances such as water, carbon dioxide, methane and mineral nutrients.

A fuel produced from recently living organic matter, such as wood, charcoal, crop residues, ethanol from sugar cane or maize, and biodiesel from vegetable oils.

Waste that contains infectious agents or biological material that may harm humans, animals or the environment, such as used needles, dressings, blood and laboratory cultures.

The aerobic decomposition of organic waste, such as food scraps and garden waste, by microorganisms into compost, a stable, humus-rich material used to improve soil.

A mineral that is essential to important technologies, such as batteries, magnets and electronics, and whose supply is at risk because production or processing is concentrated in few countries.

Non-material benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, such as recreation, tourism, beauty, spiritual meaning, education and a sense of place.

The worth of natural capital to the identity, traditions, history and way of life of a group of people, such as a traditional harvest or a landmark central to local customs.

A facility for the permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste, built hundreds of metres underground in stable rock, where engineered and natural barriers isolate the waste for thousands of years.

A system in which a small refundable deposit is added to the price of a drink container and paid back when the empty container is returned for reuse or recycling.

Discarded electrical and electronic equipment, such as phones, computers and batteries, which contains valuable metals and hazardous substances such as lead, mercury and brominated flame retardants.

The growing integration of national economies through international trade, investment and supply chains, which increases supply of resources but also interdependence between countries.

The worth of natural capital that can be traded or measured in money, such as the market price of timber, fish, minerals or farmland.

The benefits that ecosystems provide to people and other living things, grouped as provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services, such as food, flood control, recreation and nutrient cycling.

Reducing energy consumption by changing behaviour so that less of an energy service is used, such as switching off lights, turning heating down or travelling less.

Using technology to obtain the same energy service, such as light, warmth or transport, from less energy input, for example with LED lighting, insulation or efficient engines.

The combination of primary energy sources used to meet the energy demand of a country or region, usually expressed as the percentage supplied by each source.

The uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price; reliable access by a society to enough affordable energy to meet its needs now and in the future.

The capture of energy produced at one time, as chemical, gravitational potential or thermal energy, so that it can be released as electricity or heat later.

A check made during or after a development project that compares its actual environmental impacts with those predicted and tests whether mitigation and legal conditions are being met.

A process carried out before a development project is approved that identifies and predicts its environmental, social and economic impacts, proposes mitigation, and is followed by monitoring and audits.

A policy approach that makes manufacturers responsible, financially or physically, for collecting and recycling or disposing of their products at the end of their life.

A device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel, usually hydrogen, directly into electricity by combining it with oxygen, producing water and heat as by-products.

Heat from the Earth’s interior, brought to the surface as hot water or steam and used to generate electricity or to heat buildings directly.

The time taken for half of the amount of a substance to break down or decay, such as half of the radioactive nuclei in a sample or half of a pollutant in the environment.

Electricity generated when water stored at a height, usually behind a dam, flows down through turbines that drive generators.

The burning of waste at high temperatures in a controlled furnace, which greatly reduces its volume and leaves ash, flue gases and heat.

The property of an energy source whose output varies with conditions that cannot be controlled, such as wind speed or sunlight, so that it is not always available when needed.

A site where waste is buried in the ground; a sanitary landfill is engineered with a liner, daily cover and systems to collect leachate and landfill gas.

The liquid formed when water percolates through waste, carrying dissolved substances such as organic compounds, ammonia and heavy metals that can pollute soil, groundwater and rivers.

Natural gas, mainly methane, cooled to a liquid at about −162 °C so that it can be shipped in tankers and turned back into gas at an import terminal.

The finely ground waste rock and processing residues left after the valuable mineral has been extracted from an ore, often stored as a wet slurry behind dams in tailings ponds.

The yield of goods and services obtained from natural capital, such as the fish caught from a stock each year or the flood protection provided by a wetland.

A raw material or source of energy obtained from the Earth and used by society, such as sunlight, air, water, land, rocks, minerals, ecosystems and living organisms.

A natural resource replaced so slowly, over geological time, that any use reduces the remaining stock, such as fossil fuels, metal ores and phosphate rock.

The splitting of a large, unstable atomic nucleus, such as uranium-235, into two smaller nuclei after it absorbs a neutron, releasing a large amount of energy and further neutrons.

Electricity generated using heat released by nuclear reactions in a reactor, in present-day stations almost always by the fission of uranium or plutonium nuclei.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, an intergovernmental group of oil-exporting states founded in 1960 that coordinates its members’ oil production and policies.

The disposal of waste on land without engineering, cover or lining, so that it is exposed to rain, wind, animals and people and is often burned in the open.

Levelling out the highest peaks in electricity demand, for example by supplying stored energy or shifting demand to other times, so that less generating capacity is needed.

The practice of designing products with an artificially limited useful life, for example by making them hard to repair or quickly outdated, so that they must be replaced sooner.

A waste management strategy that stops waste being produced or released into the environment, by altering behaviour (such as reducing consumption) or by controlling release (such as safe disposal).

Energy in the form in which it is found in nature before any human conversion, such as the chemical energy in coal, oil, gas and wood, or the energy in sunlight and wind.

The sequence of stages a product passes through, from raw material extraction, through manufacture, distribution and use, to its end of life as waste or as recovered material.

The quantity of a fossil fuel or mineral that geological and engineering data show, with reasonable certainty, can be extracted from known deposits under existing economic and technological conditions.

Ecosystem services that supply material products people obtain from ecosystems, such as food, freshwater, timber, fibre, fuel and medicines.

A method of storing energy in which surplus electricity pumps water to a higher reservoir, and the water is later released through turbines to generate electricity at times of high demand.

Waste containing radioactive isotopes, such as spent nuclear fuel, which emits ionising radiation and must be isolated from people and ecosystems until its radioactivity has decayed to safe levels.

A group of 17 metallic elements, the lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium, used in permanent magnets, batteries and electronics, which occur widely but seldom in concentrated deposits.

The collection and reprocessing of waste materials, such as paper, glass, metals and some plastics, into new raw materials or products.

A natural or constructed wetland dominated by reeds through which water flows slowly, used as a buffer zone to remove nutrients, sediment and other pollutants from run-off or wastewater.

Ecosystem services that come from the control of natural processes, such as climate regulation by carbon sequestration, flood and erosion control, water purification and pollination.

Energy from sources replenished by natural processes at least as fast as they are used, such as sunlight, wind, tides, flowing water, the Earth’s internal heat and sustainably grown biomass.

A natural resource that can be regenerated or replaced as fast as it is used, through natural growth and reproduction or other recurring natural processes, such as timber, fish and freshwater.

The reduction of the stock of a natural resource because it is used faster than it is replaced, which for a renewable resource can lead to collapse.

The ability of a society to ensure the long-term availability of enough natural resources, from its own territory or reliable imports, to meet its demand at an affordable price.

A waste management strategy that removes waste after it has entered the environment and restores the damaged system, such as clearing beaches or rehabilitating old dump sites.

The use of an item again, for the same or a different purpose, without reprocessing it into a new material, for example refilling a glass bottle or passing on clothes.

A plastic item designed to be used only once before it is thrown away or recycled, such as carrier bags, drinks bottles, straws, cutlery and food packaging.

The worth of natural capital to communities and to relationships between people, such as a park or beach used as a shared meeting and recreation place.

Electricity or heat generated from sunlight, either directly by photovoltaic cells or indirectly by concentrating sunlight to heat a fluid that drives a turbine.

The solid waste produced by households, such as food scraps, packaging, paper, glass, metals, plastics and textiles; with similar waste from shops and offices it forms municipal solid waste.

The religious or sacred meaning that people attach to natural capital, such as a mountain, river or forest regarded as holy or ancestral.

The underlying ecosystem processes on which all other ecosystem services depend, such as nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production and the provision of habitat.

The worth of natural capital as a source of materials, genes or designs for new technology, such as wild crop relatives used in plant breeding.

Electricity generated from the movement of seawater caused by the tides, using a barrage across an estuary or turbines placed in tidal currents.

Any material that is no longer wanted or useful to its owner and is discarded, including solid, liquid and gaseous materials from households, industry, agriculture and services.

A ranking of waste management options in order of preference, from preventing waste by refusing and reducing, through reuse and recycling, to energy recovery and finally disposal.

The recovery of energy from waste, usually by incinerating it to generate electricity and heat, or by capturing biogas from landfills and anaerobic digesters.

The international movement of waste across borders for recycling, recovery or disposal, usually from high-income to lower-income countries where labour is cheaper and regulation weaker.

Electricity generated by turbines whose blades are turned by the kinetic energy of moving air, either on land or offshore.