Glossary of terms for ethical consumption

Scroll down for our A to Z of terms you may come across when reading about ethical consumption

Agroecology: both a method of growing food sustainably and a political movement that aims to democratise the way that food is grown and processed globally.

As a process, it takes a holistic approach to integrating the needs of humans, plants, animals and the environment to create mutually supportive systems that work with available resources without depleting them. Politically, it aims to shift control of land, seeds, markets and labour away from big business and back into the hands of small-scale farmers and local communities.

Alternatives to animal testing: tests that check the safety of a finished product or ingredient without the use of animals.

This includes ‘in vitro tests’ that use cells or other organic matter outside of their usual biological context for example in test tubes, and ‘in silico tests’ that use computer modelling. Such approaches are increasingly referred to as ‘human-relevant tests’ as the use of biological matter or information from humans rather than animals makes them more relevant to human physiology. 

Animal testing: the testing of finished products or ingredients on animals to look for evidence that they may be harmful or toxic to humans.

A common example is the draize test, which involves putting droplets of chemicals in animals’ eyes (often rabbits) to check for inflammation or irritation. 

Animal testing is different to the use of animals for development of drugs, as it is only to check for safety rather than wider effects on the body.

Audit: an official inspection to check a company against certain criteria, for example workers’ rights or animal welfare standards.

Companies may ‘audit’ their suppliers to ensure that the supplier is complying with the policies put in place.

BDS Movement: a Palestinian-led movement, which calls for “boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with International law and universal principles of human rights.”

It is a key civil society intervention aimed at ending Israeli apartheid, colonialism and occupation by exerting non-violent public pressure on Israel and complicit institutions and companies. The initial call was backed by 170 Palestinian civil society groups.

B-Corporation: a certified B-Corp (or Benefit Corporation) is a company that is legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment, as well as just on their shareholders.

They are still for-profit companies selling shares and paying dividends, but they are not just for profit.

Read about the rise of the B-Corp in this article.

Carbon footprint: the total carbon emissions from the creation, use and disposal of a product (sometimes referred to as its “life cycle”).

This would include emissions from any extraction or production process for materials or ingredients involved: from the manufacture of the product itself, the transportation of materials and the finished product, and from its use.

Because all products are part of a bigger system, there is no single answer to how to divide up responsibility for emissions, and different analysts will do it in different ways.

Certification: an assurance that a product or company meets certain standards, for example in terms of workers’ rights or animal welfare. Certifications are provided by an external body such as Fairtrade Foundation or the Soil Association (organic).

Products and companies often display certifications as badges of approval. However, the robustness of certifications varies greatly. 

Company group: is a collection of companies that are all owned by one company known as the UHC or ultimate holding company (see below).

Conflict minerals: the minerals tin, tantalum and tungsten, which are using in electronics (and also sometimes known as the 3TGs). These minerals are often mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been linked to the funding of armed groups in the country, and have helped to fuel a war there for over twenty years. Many also consider gold to be a conflict mineral, as it has also been linked to similar issues in the country.

Read more about conflict minerals.

Co-operative: a business or other organisation that is owned and run by its members. Co-operatives can take lots of different forms: a workers’ co-op is run and owned by its workers, whereas a consumer co-op is run and owned by its users. Co-operatives give stakeholders besides its shareholders a say in the running of the organisation.

Ethical Consumer is a multi-stakeholder co-op, meaning that it is run and owned by both its worker members and its investor members.

Corporate courts: courts through which companies can sue states for the loss of future profits if laws are changed.

Corporate courts usually meet secretly, are presided over by corporate lawyers, and provide no right to appeal once a verdict has been made. Also known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement Tribunals, the corporate court system is now part of many trade-deals, which have corporations’ right to sue written into the terms.

Corporate power: usually used to refer to the control that large corporations have over democratic systems. A classic example of ‘corporate power’ is companies’ political influence through lobbying and making political donations, thereby directing governments over regulations.

Corporate responsibility / corporate social responsibility (CSR): the idea that companies have a responsibility to all stakeholders – for example, their workers, the communities in which they function and from which they benefit, and society as a whole – rather than just to their shareholders for whom they make money.

CSR policies and practices are the means by which they fulfil these responsibilities. They can cover everything from committing not to use child labour to campaigning for a particular cause.

Corporation: a large company or group of companies that act as a single legal entity, i.e. they are governed as a whole.

Cruelty-Free: a product that has not been tested on animals, and does not contain any animal-tested ingredients.

There are various schemes available including the international 'leaping bunny' from Cruelty Free International.

Look up our health and beauty product guides to see which companies are cruelty-free, such as deodorants, skin care, sunscreen, shampoo, and soap.

Data centres: a large number of computers that, housed in one place and joined together, store, process or distribute large amounts of data. Companies like Google, Apple and Facebook rely on data centres in order to store their users’ information and run their programmes.

Data centres require quite a large amount of energy both to run the computers and to keep them from overheating through the use of cooling systems. Read about the hidden costs of our digital habits and how you can reduce your data carbon footprint.

Democratic ownership: when those using and affected by a resource also own and manage it – whether the resource is a company, an energy source, a piece of land or another natural resource. Democratic ownership can take many forms, such as co-operatives, mutuals, and community trusts.

Direct trade: an approach where companies buy raw ingredients for products directly from those that grow them. Not only does direct trading mean that the consumer knows where the raw materials are coming from, but it cuts out the middle man meaning that the growers themselves are more likely to receive a fairer price. Direct trade is not a certification scheme. It is more expensive to buy this way and it is thus associated with high quality, artisan products.

Direct trade is particularly important in the chocolate and coffee markets.

Energy efficiency: the amount of energy used by an appliance in doing a specific job, for example in washing your clothes. The more energy efficient an appliance is the less energy it requires for any given purpose. Energy labels for some products have changed in 2021.

Factory farming: a way of farming animals such as pigs, cattle or poultry using intensive methods whereby large numbers are kept indoors in strictly controlled conditions. Factory farming is criticised for many reasons: for its cruelty to the animals involved; for its significant environmental impact; and for its role in creating antibiotic resistance amongst other things.

Factory farming is also know as intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production. Barned or caged chickens are a common example of a factory farmed animal.

Fair trade (two words): when producers in developing countries are paid a fair price for their work by companies in developed companies. A fair price should allow them to cover their basic needs, such as food, education and healthcare.

Organisations like the Fairtrade Foundation were established to help ensure that fair prices were paid and fair conditions ensured for workers, as well as to protect producers from big fluctuations in market prices.

FairTrade certified: indicates that a product has been traded and produced in line with standards of the Fairtrade Foundation or the World Fair Trade Organisation.

Fairtrade standards include a minimum price for producers to guard against price fluctuations, and a premium on top of the market price. They also include some protections for workers’ rights and the environment.

Read our article about why buying fair trade is important.

Fixed cut-off date (FCOD): a date, included in a company’s policy, after which none of the ingredients used by the company have been tested on animals. For example, if the FCOD was January 2003, the company could not use any ingredients tested on animals since this date. 

Almost all ingredients in cosmetics have been tested on animals at some stage in their development. But companies with FCOD thereby discourage current or future animal testing.

Flexitarian: someone who eats a largely meat-free diet or often opts for plant-based choices. Flexitarians are usually motivated by environmental concerns.

See our guide to meat free sausages and burgers for some plant-based alternatives to meat and fish.

Food sovereignty: an approach to food that was originally developed by smallholder farmers in the global South but now drives a global movement comprised of farmers, growers, consumers and activists. At its core is the belief that communities should have the right to control the way food is produced, traded and consumed.

Food sovereignty “recognises the right of peoples to food that is healthy and culturally appropriate and that is produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, as well as their right to define their own food and agriculture systems”. The six foundational pillars of food sovereignty are:

• focuses on food for people    
• values food providers    
• localises food systems    
• puts control locally    
• builds knowledge and skills    
• works with nature 

Food justice: a concept and movement that believes the benefits and risks involved in producing, distributing and consuming food should be shared fairly across all segments of society, ensuring access to healthy and culturally appropriate food for all. It is based on the right of communities to control their food and agriculture systems.

Free Trade Agreement: also known as a trade agreement or trade deal, it is a deal between two or more countries that determines policies on a wide range of economic and political areas including tariffs and quotas on imports and exports, whether government are allowed to subsidise industries, how they are allowed to regulate production methods to protect the environment, animals and workers, and whether they need to open publicly owned industries to competition.

Many free trade agreements have gone much further than most people would expect to be in a trade agreement, and have effectively determined many domestic policies.

Freedom of Association: the right to form and join organisations of one’s own choosing, including trade unions and political parties. Freedom of Association is recognised as a fundamental human right by the ILO Conventions (International Labour Organizations) and The Human Rights Act.

Many large multinationals such as Amazon are being exposed for their anti union tactics, as this article highlights.

Greenwashing: the practice of making unsubstantiated or misleading claims about the environmental or social benefits of a product or company practice. Some of the most famous examples of greenwashing are Chevron’s ‘People Do’ campaign, promoting its environmental works in the 1970s and 80s; and PepsiCo’s more recent claims to have moved towards sustainable palm oil sourcing.

Read our A to Z on social and other greenwashing.

GMOs: Genetically Modified Organisms, whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering. Crops are often genetically engineered to withstand a particular type or brand of pesticide, for example, so that it can be used to kill unwanted insects without affecting the plant.

There is much debate about the safety and environmental impact of, and yields from, GMO crops. They have also been criticised for their impact on farmers – locking them into costly relationships with agribusinesses that own the patent for the genetically-engineered crop.

Read about why buying GMO free is important.

Human-relevant testing: tests that check the safety of a finished product or ingredient without the use of animals – also known as ‘animal-free testing’.

These include ‘in vitro tests’, which use cells or other organic matter outside of their usual biological context for example in test tubes; and ‘in silico tests’, which use computer modelling. Such approaches are increasingly referred to as ‘human-relevant tests’, as their use biological matter or information from humans, rather than animals, makes them more relevant to the human body and human responses. 

ILO Conventions: 190 laws that aim to improve the labour standards of people around the world. Adopted by the International Labour Organization, the ILO Conventions include eight fundamental conventions that cover areas such as child and forced labour, equal pay and right to organise and collectively bargain.

All countries that are members of the ILO must adopt the eight fundamental conventions, and may choose to ratify any of the other 182 laws.

Intensive farming: a way of farming animals such as pigs, cattle or poultry using intensive methods whereby large numbers are kept indoors in strictly controlled conditions. Factory farming is criticised for many reasons: for its cruelty to the animals involved; for its significant environmental impact; and for its role in creating anti-biotic resistance amongst other things.

Intensive farming is also known as factory farming or industrial livestock farming. Barned or caged chickens are a common example of an intensively farmed animal.

Investor-State Dispute Tribunals: courts through which companies can sue states for the loss of future profits if laws are changed.

Corporate courts usually meet secretly, are presided over by corporate lawyers, and provide no right to appeal once a verdict has been made. Also known as Corporate Courts, Investor-State Dispute Tribunals are now part of many trade-deals, which have corporations’ right to sue written into the terms. 

Lobby group: an organisation formed to influence legislation on a particular issue.

Corporate lobby groups are often formed of multiple companies from the same industry, which combine their influence to lobby for policy that is favourable to their commercial interests.

Lobbying: when an individual, organisation or company tries to influence the actions or policies of officials – often those deciding legislation or awarding contracts. Corporate lobbying refers to companies doing this.

Companies sometimes hire professional lobbyists to do this for them, or form into collective lobby groups to combine their influence.

Major stakeholder: companies or individual that hold a significant proportion of shares in a company. In the UK, major stakeholders own over 25% shares in a company.

Monopoly: when a single company controls the trade or supply of a particular commodity or service. A monopoly allows a company to dominate a particular market, and therefore control the terms on which a commodity or service is traded, for example the price at which it is sold.

Multi-stakeholder initiative: an organisation that includes both for-profit companies and not-for-profit organisations. Multi-stakeholder initiatives bring together companies, NGOs, trade unions and governmental organisations to address a specific issue such as child labour or the trade in conflict minerals.

Mutual organisation: owned by their customers, mutuals are run for the benefit of their members rather than for external shareholders. Profits are often reinvested into the organisation or paid to members in the form of dividends, based on the amount of custom they have had with the organisation over the year.

They differ to co-operatives insofar as members are not expected to contribute to the capital of the company by direct investment.

Nanotechnology: the engineering of matter on an atomic or molecular scale or smaller. Nanotechnology deals with dimensions under 100 nanometers.

There is ongoing debate about potential environmental and health risks associated with the use of nanotechnology in products, and some scientists suggest that there is insufficient evidence on its impacts.

Organic: an approach to agriculture that aims to ‘work with nature rather than against it’; avoiding the use of synthetic chemicals and GMOs and favouring farming techniques that build healthy soils. As a term organic can be used to describe agricultural ingredients and the products made from them – including processed foods and fabrics.

Read our article about why buying organic products is important.

Organic certified: indicates that a product has been produced in line with organic standards, and that this has been verified by an independent organisation such the Soil Association.

Organic standards prohibit the use of synthetic chemicals and GMOs and favour techniques more in harmony with nature.

Permaculture: a philosophy and design framework for developing systems that meet social and environmental needs.

A contraction of the words ‘permanent’ and ‘culture’, it uses natural systems as the basis for its design whilst being guided by three core ethics: earth care, people care and fair shares. Although commonly referred to in relation to food production and landscape design, it is also applied to social systems such as the design of business and project planning.

Political Actions Committees (PACs) and Super PACs: organised for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect or defeat political candidates in the United States and Canada. Most PACs represent business, labour or ideological interests.

PACs provide a way for companies to make political donations in these countries, where direct donations from corporations are banned.

Political donations: money given to a particular political candidate or party by an individual, organisations or company.

Political donations are often seen as a way for companies to influence elections and legislation once their chosen candidate is in office.

Rainforest Alliance: a certification scheme focused on sustainability. Rainforest Alliance sets environmental and workers’ right criteria for producers to meet, in order to achieve certification. Brands can buy use of the Rainforest Alliance logo if they source a certain proportion of ingredients from certified producers.

Rainforest Alliance has received criticism for the weakness of its criteria, particularly the low threshold (as little as 30%) of ingredients needing to be from certified sources in order for products to use the logo.

Regeneration: a philosophy that describes systems and practices that take a ‘holistic’ place-based approach to solving environmental, social and economic problems; aiming to restore health, wholeness and resilience.

Regenerative business: enterprises inspired by the philosophy of regeneration, that operate in a way that enhances the health of the systems they are part of. This may involve collaborating with others to generate multiple forms of capital; nurturing the wellbeing of all their workers; and the capacity of communities, ecosystems and the networks they are connected to. For more information see: this article on co-creating regenerative enterprises and the Regenerative Enterprise Institute.

Remuneration: the total amount received by a member of staff including salary, bonuses and pensions. In the United States this is called compensation. Large companies are often criticised for the excessive remuneration of CEOs and other top members of staff.

Revolving doors: a term often used to refer to the fact that many politicians and other legislators move between jobs in the public and private sectors, creating concern that they will continue to represent business interests once in office or influence legislation whilst working for private companies.

Revolving doors are of particular concern in terms of lobbyists, who are employed by private companies to influence legislation. Many lobbyists have previously held government roles.

Robin Hood Tax: a tiny tax on all financial transactions of around 0.05%. Many countries already impose various forms of ‘Robin Hood Tax’, including the UK, for example the stamp duty on share transactions.

Proponents of introducing further Robin Hood Taxes, also known as Tobin Taxes (see later), suggest that it would raise billions of pounds for public services and disincentive risky financial transactions, thereby lowering the likelihood of an economic crash.

Shareholder power: the control that owners of shares have within a company. In terms of ethical consumption, it refers to the ability of share owners to push companies towards more sustainable practices.

Single-use plastic packaging: plastic items that are only used once before they are thrown away, such as straws, water bottles, coffee stirrers and most food packaging.

Subsidiary: a company that is owned and controlled by a holding company.

Supply chain: the process of production – the steps and the networks of individuals, organisations, resources, activities and technologies – that bring a product to a consumer.

Read our article on where our clothes are made, which explains this in more detail, particularly in relation to clothes.

Supply chain management: the way in which a company guarantees that workers’ rights and provisions are being met throughout the supply chain.

This includes both the policies and the practices that are put in place, such as auditing of factories, providing grievance mechanisms for workers or membership of multi-stakeholder initiatives.

Sustainability: an approach to business that minimises negative impacts on the environment, community, society and the economy.

The UN definition of sustainability is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. Many people suggest, however, that the term sustainability has been co-opted by big business as a means to greenwash their approach.

Tax avoidance: shifting profits so you have to pay a lower rate of taxes. It involves using loop holes in tax systems so that you can reduce rates in a way that law makers never intended but that is entirely legal.

Unfortunately, it also causes many ethical issues, such as denying much needed money to the welfare state and forcing poor countries to slash tax rates so that profits aren’t shifted elsewhere.

Read our article about tax avoidance and see our list of tax haven countries.

Tax evasion: hiding profits or fiddling accounts in order to avoid taxes. Unlike tax avoidance, tax evasion is illegal.

The difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance is quite blurred, however, many tax avoidance schemes have never been before a court and nobody is sure whether or not they would be declared legal if they were.

Tobin Tax: a tiny tax on all financial transactions of around 0.05%. Many countries already impose various forms of Tobin Tax, including the UK, for example the stamp duty of 0.5% on share transactions.

Proponents of introducing further Robin Hood Taxes, also known as Tobin Taxes, suggest that it would raise billions of pounds for public services and disincentive risky financial transactions, thereby lowering the likelihood of an economic crash.

Toxics: a chemical that is harmful to the environment or hazardous to your health if inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin. Parabens, phthalates and triclosan are all common examples of toxic chemicals found to cosmetics and household cleaners.

Read more about toxins in health and beauty products.

Trade deal: also known as a trade agreement or free trade agreement, it is a deal between two or more countries that determines policies on a wide range of economic and political areas including tariffs and quotas on imports and exports, whether government are allowed to subsidise industries, how they are allowed to regulate production methods to protect the environment, animals and workers, and whether they need to open publicly owned industries to competition.

Many free trade agreements have gone much further than most people would expect to be in a trade agreement, and have effectively determined many domestic policies.

Transnational Corporation (TNC): companies that operate in several countries, also known as multinational corporations.

Transparency: the amount of information that a company discloses about their practices.

The most transparent companies will disclose who their suppliers are, where the money paid for a product is spent, and what measures they have in place to protect their workers among other areas.

Ultimate holding company (UHC): the company at the top of a company group, which owns all the brands and companies within it. The UHC is also know as the ultimate parent company.

Ultimate parent company: the company at the top of a company group, which owns all the brands and companies within it. The ultimate parent company is also known as the ultimate holding company or the UHC.

Value added at source: a description of a product where the processing takes place in the country of production. As it is common for much of the profit to accrue at the higher levels of processing, this is likely to help retain more of the profit within the producer country. Value added at source is not a certification scheme.

• See our guide to ethical chocolate
• See our guide to ethical coffee

Vegan: someone who chooses to eat a plant-based diet, rather than animal products including meat, fish and dairy. Vegans also avoid animal products in things like clothing, where leather and silk are common, and cosmetics, where honey and other animal ingredients are often used.

Vegetarian: someone who chooses not to eat meat or fish. Vegetarians and vegans are usually motivated by environmental and animal rights concerns.

Water footprint: the total amount of water used in the creation of a product.

This would include any water required for materials or ingredients needed, for example for growing the cotton for clothing, and for the manufacture of the product itself, as well as any water ‘used’ through pollution as a result of the manufacture.

1R approach: an approach that emphasises the need to replace animal testing.

The abbreviation comes from the concept of a 3R approach: combing replacement, reduction and refinement to tackle animal testing. A 1R approach, however, suggests that the use of animal testing needs to be replaced altogether rather than just reduced.

3R approach: an approach that suggests the need to tackle animal testing by replacing tests with animal-free alternatives where possible, reducing the number of tests conducted by removing obsolete experiments, and refining those tests still used so that fewer animals and repeat experiments are needed.

Many activists now suggest the need for a 1R approach instead: the complete replacement of animal testing. 

3TGs: more commonly known as conflict minerals, the minerals tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold, which are commonly used in electronics. These minerals are often mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been linked to the funding of armed groups in the country, and have helped to fuel a war there for over twenty years. Read more about conflict minerals.