GLOSSARY & DEFINITIONS
| Biodiversity | This refers to the variety of different living organisms found in a particular region. |
| Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) | This is the amount of dissolved oxygen that would be needed by micro-organisms to break down all of the organic matter present in a sample of water at a certain temperature over a specific time period. It is frequently used as an indicator of water quality. |
| Book and Claim System | This system enables buyers looking to support the production of RSPO certified palm oil to purchase certificates from RSPO certified palm oil producers. Each certificate represents one metric tonne of RSPO certified CPO or CPKO. GreenPalm was the platform by which certificates were traded until 1 January 2017 when the RSPO's own platform, PalmTrace, took over. |
| (GreenPalm/PalmTrace) |
| Carbon Footprint | A carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, event or product. |
| Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) | The measure of the capacity of water to consume oxygen during the decomposition of organic matter in the water. |
| ESG | Environmental, Social and Governance |
| European Union’s Renewable | This directive, which was introduced in 2009, provides the regulatory framework needed to promote the use of renewable energy by EU member states in order to assist the EU to meet its targets for renewable energy consumption. It also lays out a set of sustainability criteria for the production of biofuels, which must be complied with in order for the consumption of biofuels to contribute towards targets for the use of renewable energy. |
| Energy Directive (EU RED) |
| Free, Prior and Informed Consent | This is the principle, which is rooted in international human rights law, that a community has the right to give or withhold its consent to a proposed project that may affect land or natural resources that they customarily own, occupy or otherwise use. It necessitates that communities that may be affected are consulted well in advance of a project commencing, provided with sufficient details regarding the nature of the project to make an informed decision, and that consent is granted without coercion or intimidation. |
| (FPIC) |
| Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) | The GRI has developed an internationally recognised framework for organisations to report on their economic, environmental and social performance. |
| Greenhouse Gas (GHG) | A gas which traps the sun’s energy in the earth’s atmosphere. Scientific research suggests that increasing levels of GHGs are causing the climate to change in a variety of ways, including increases in global temperature, sea level rise and changing patterns of drought and flooding events. |
| High Carbon Stock (HCS) | High Carbon Stock areas are areas where the above ground biomass has a content of more than 35 tonnes of carbon per hectare. The High Carbon Stock approach, and that of certain certification bodies, is a methodology for distinguishing forest areas (>35 tonnes carbon/hectare) for protection which means that these areas cannot be cleared and/or developed for agriculture, forestry, mining or other land uses. |
| High Conservation Values (HCVs) | HCV areas are natural habitats that are considered to support biodiversity, ecosystem functions or socio-cultural values that are considered to be of outstanding significance or critical importance. |
| Mass Balance | A mass balance system allows certified and uncertified palm oil to be mixed at any stage in the supply chain. An accounting system is used to track the proportion of palm oil at each stage in the supply chain which corresponds to the volume of certified palm oil produced. |
| No deforestation, no peat, no exploitation (NDPE) | Policies and procedures to protect HCS forests and HCV areas. |
| Social Impact Assessment (SIA) | An independent assessment of the socio-economic impact of development activity to measure and mitigate potential negative impacts. |
| Stakeholders | An individual or group with a legitimate and/or demonstrable interest in, or who is directly affected by, the activities of an organisation and the consequences of those activities. |
| Sustainability | The creation of the environmental, social and economic conditions necessary to enable something to continue for the foreseeable future. |
| CO2 equivalents (CO2eq) | Emissions of GHGs other than carbon dioxide are converted to tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by estimating the amount of gas emitted and multiplying it by its global warming potential. This allows the potential impact on global warming of the GHG emissions associated with a person, organisation or product to be compared even when they comprise different GHGs. |
Calculations
Employee turnover: the employee turnover rate is calculated by dividing the total number of resignations over the course of the year by the average number of employees in each category (e.g. management, permanent staff) at the end of each month during the year.
Lost time incident rates: the lost time incident rate is calculated by dividing the total number of accidents for which the clinic recommended the patient to take one or more calendar day as rest, by the total number of man hours worked (man days x 7 hours) and multiplied by 200,000. This includes fatalities. The data included relates to REAK’s employees only; independent contractors have not been included.
Accident severity rates: the accident severity rate is calculated by dividing the total number of lost days caused by accidents by the total number of accidents for which the clinic recommends one or more day of rest to be taken. Fatalities are not included.
GHG emissions: REA currently uses the latest version (version 4) of the PalmGHG tool, which became mandatory for RSPO members on 1 January 2020, to calculate our carbon footprint. The PalmGHG calculator is free to download from the RSPO website.