About             Credits

IPO (Initial Public Offering)

A first sale of equity in a company to public investors. IPOs are governed the Securities Act of 1933, SEC (Securities Exchange Commission) regulation, and differing state laws. An IPO is one way to raise money for further investment or...
[Read more about this term]

IRR (Internal Rate of Return)

The Discount Rate at which the present value of future cash flow is zero. Arrived at through trial and error this is essentially the return a company receives on investment in itself....
[Read more about this term]

ISO 14000

The ISO 14000 series represents environmental management standards, created by the International Organization for Standardization, which certify products and companies that meet specific processes and practice criteria. This standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to: implement, maintain and...
[Read more about this term]

ISO 19011

The ISO 19011 series represents environmental management and auditing standards, created by the International Organization for Standardization, which certify products and companies that meet specific processes and practice criteria. These supercede many of the criteria initially developed under the ISO...
[Read more about this term]

Incentive-based Rehabilitative Economics

A set of economic policies that give carbon credits, financial grants or subsidies, expertise, or other types of aid as an incentive to rehabilitate and protect, in perpetuity, habitats that have been destroyed by human activity (for example, rainforests burnt...
[Read more about this term]

Industrial Ecology

A field of study and practice that focuses on how industry can be developed or restructured to reduce environmental burdens throughout the product life cycle (extraction, production, use, and disposal) and encompasses a variety of related areas of research and...
[Read more about this term]

Industrial Estates

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, “a large tract of land, subdivided and developed for the use of several companies in close proximity to use simultaneously, with a shared infrastructure.” Other terms for these include, industrial parks, industrial zones,...
[Read more about this term]

Industrial Metabolism

The total use of materials and energy throughout an entire industrial process, such as manufacturing. This includes the source, transportation, use, reuse, recycling, and disposal of all industrial nutrients (materials) as well as the energy needed at each step....
[Read more about this term]

Industrial Nutrients

A term coined by Michael Braungart and William McDonough to describe the raw materials used in manufacturing, use, and disposal of products. These materials, when treated as valuable resources can be used to make other products instead of being disposed...
[Read more about this term]

Information Economy

A vague term referring to a economy whose chief characteristic is the trade or value of information instead of materials (such as gold, iron, or fish) or activities (such as manufacturing or agriculture) to create economic growth and benefits. There...
[Read more about this term]

Innovation

The goal of many organizations who seek to differentiate their offerings by finding new and more valuable solutions that others have not. Most organizations who seek to innovate, do so as a separate, occasional function by a designated subset of...
[Read more about this term]

Intangible Asset

[Read more about this term]

Integrated Bottom Line

A process, described by Theo Furgusson, for integrating financial, environmental, and social costs and benefits into a unified measure of business activity. Conventional objectives of profitability, competitive advantage, efficiency, and economic growth are judged successful by their compatibility with biodiversity,...
[Read more about this term]

Intellectual Capital

Refers to a capital asset whose yield is intellectual rights. An economic intangible used mostly by firms engaged in information technology, innovation research or technology transfer....
[Read more about this term]