Green Franchise Business Report - Appendix

Appendix

This appendix contains definitions of terms that appear in the report in relation to green practices.

The U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Green Building Council is the nation’s foremost coalition of leaders working to transform the way building and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.

LEED

LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most:

• Energy savings
   
• Water efficiency
   
• CO2 emissions reduction
   
• Improved indoor environmental quality

• Stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions¹⁵.

Fair Trade

The Fair Trade Certified™ Label guarantees consumers that strict economic, social and environmental criteria were met in the production and trade of an agricultural product. Fair Trade Certification is currently available in the U.S. for coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, flowers, sugar, rice, and vanilla. TransFair USA licenses companies to display the Fair Trade Certified label on products that meet strict international Fair Trade standards.¹⁶

Carbon Footprint

A business or franchises’ carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas produced through their activities. This is usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Green Seal

Green Seal is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1989. Green Seal provides science-based environmental certification standards that are credible, transparent, and essential in an increasingly educated and competitive marketplace. Their industry knowledge and standards help manufacturers, purchasers, and end users alike make responsible choices that positively impact business behavior and improve quality of life.

Green Seal certified its first products in 1992 and has certified over 3,200 products and services from major companies since¹⁷.

¹⁵ US Green Building Council, Intro – What LEED Is, www.usgbc.org

¹⁶ http://www.transfairusa.org/

¹⁷ Green Seal, www.greenseal.org
 

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