Sustainability glossary

Sustainability is a broad topic and covers different action areas, from the sourcing of our raw materials to efficient production, engaging with our people and communities to the end-of-life of our products. To improve accessibility and understanding, we have compiled a list of sustainability terms and definitions, which are frequently used in our communication and reports.

Download our full sustainability glossary and see a selection of sustainability terms below.

10 selected sustainability terms

1. Deforestation

The conversion of forest to other land use regardless of whether human induced or not. This definition implies permanent tree-cover loss.  

2. Hybrid (packaging) solutions

A hybrid packaging solution uses multiple materials to produce solutions which meet several customer demands, for example, creating lighter versions of heavy packages and recyclable versions of already lightweight packages.

3. Life cycle assessment (LCA)

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a product, process or service. Environmental impacts are considered from raw material extraction and processing (cradle), through the product’s manufacture, process waste disposal, logistic of raw materials and waste (grave). A cradle to grave LCA also considers the distribution of products, product use, and recycling/disposal at end-of-life. 

4. Mono-material packaging 

A mono-material refers to a product composed of a single material or fibre, as opposed to packaging made from different materials. This makes the recycling process much easier, as it reduces the amount of energy required to split or separate various materials.

5. Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions

Net-Zero target setting supports the rapid decline of a company´s value chain greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Net-Zero covers the entire value chain emissions, including those produced by one’s own processes (Scope 1), purchased electricity and heat (Scope 2) and indirect emissions generated by suppliers, service providers and customers (Scope 3).  

6. Paper for recycling

Also known as ‘recovered paper’, this is a term used by Cepi to highlight the intended use of this secondary raw material for paper recycling only. It is natural fibre-based paper suitable for recycling, consisting of paper in any shape or product made (predominantly) from paper, which may include other constituents that cannot be removed by dry sorting, such as coatings, laminates, spiral bindings, etc.

7. Science-based target  

A carbon emission reduction target is ‘science-based’ if it is in line with the scale of reductions required to keep global temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) acts as an independent verification body for ‘science-based’ carbon emissions reduction targets. 

8. Secondary raw material

Recycled materials that can be used in manufacturing processes instead of or alongside virgin raw materials.

9. Social Psychology of Risk

How decisions are influenced by the presence or perceived presence of people as well as the environment.

10. TRCR

Total Recordable Case Rate (TRCR) is calculated as the number of total recordable cases (the sum of fatalities, lost-time injuries, restricted work cases and medical treatment cases), multiplied by 200,000 and divided by the total hours worked for the selected period.