Glossary bc

Biodiversity (variety of life) is a measurement of the variety of the living world. It is commonly used to describe the number, variety and variability of animal and plant species on the planet.

The period during which, according to Italian law, certain people cannot buy or sell shares of the company for which they work. The restriction applies for 30 days before the board meeting called to approve annual and half-yearly results and for 15 days before the board meeting called to approve quarterly results.

A group of people that manages the company. In the majority of cases the members of the board have specific fiduciary duties and must act in the interest of the company. There are two types of boards: those that remain in place are automatically renewed and those that must be elected by the owners of the company. In the case of joint stock companies the board is almost always elected by shareholders.

A bond is a loan in the form of a credit held by the bondholder. The company selling a bond agrees to pay back both the capital and interest (coupon) to the buyer. The sale of bonds can be linked to other conditions such as the obligation of the seller to provide certain information to the bondholder or to follow certain rules. Bonds generally are sold with a maturity date of more than one year.

The amount of cash generated by a company in a determined period. More precisely, it is the amount by which profit (revenue derived from activities nad not credit) exceeds the cost of doing business in the period.

List of all the works published by a publishing company.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent non-profit organisation created to promote and encourage the global transformation of business in order to combat climate change and protect natural resources. Thanks to its influence on the market through the involvement of shareholders, customers and governments, the CDP has provided an incentive for thousands of companies and cities to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions, climate change risk and water management strategies. The key elements of the strategy are to increase awareness among companies by measuring and reporting emissions and ensuring transparency.

The number of copies that reach readers through newsstand sales, subscriptions and free giveaways. It is the difference between the run and the returns.

Greenhouse or climate changing gases are responsible for the increase in the greenhouse effect and the resulting global warming (otherwise known, in a broader sense, as “climate change”). The main greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is responsible for around 80% of global warming. The other main gases are methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), halogenated compounds (PFC), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆). Climate changing gases are released into the atmosphere mainly by combustion processes, particularly the use of fossil fuels. Climate changing emissions are conventionally measured in tonnes of CO₂ equivalents: quantities of other gases released are converted into this unit of measurement using appropriate conversion factors.
Based on the main international protocols, greenhouse gas emissions can be classified as:

• direct (scope 1), resulting from sources that are owned or controlled directly by the company;
• indirect energy (scope 2), resulting from the use of electricity purchased from third parties;
• other indirect (scope 3), other emissions relating to activities not directly controlled by the company.

Carbon dioxide is an acid oxide consisting of one carbon atom bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is an essential substance for the life processes of plants and animals and is considered to be one of the main greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is essential for life and for plant photosynthesis but is also responsible for the increasing greenhouse effect. Attributable to industrial processes, it is a product of combustion, particularly the use of fossil fuels.

CO₂ equivalent emissions are greenhouse gas emissions measured in terms of their contribution to the greenhouse effect compared to CO₂, which is the reference parameter with a value of 1. For example, methane has a greenhouse potential 21 times greater than CO₂, which means that a tonne of methane corresponds to 21 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

Total revenue obtained from the sale of add-on sales.

Company welfare refers to the conventional and innovative solutions offered by the company to meet the specific needs and interests of its employees, providing them with services, initiatives and projects to improve their well-being and quality of life, including that of their families.

La Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange) has the authority to regulate financial products on the Italian market. The objective of its activities is to protect the interests of investors while ensuring the efficiency, transparency and development of the market (www.consob.it).

A series of rules that oversees and regulates the management and control of a company. The corporate governance system defines the division of roles and the duties of the various people involved with the company. The system assigns jobs, responsibilities and decision-making powers to be exercised though internal organs (board of directors, shareholders’ meeting, statutory auditors) and external oversight organs (Consob, external auditor).

The European Commission’s Green Paper entitled “Promoting a European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility” defines corporate social responsibility as the “business-led voluntary integration, as a corporate initiative, of the social and environmental concerns of businesses into their commercial operations and their relations with stakeholders”. “Being socially responsible”, adds the Green Paper “means not only fulfilling legal expectations, but also going beyond compliance, investing in human capital, the environment and relations with stakeholders”.