Glossary
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Emission reduction scenarios / pathways |
Phased targets for achieving climate neutrality |
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Action Programme Natural Climate Change Mitigation (ANCCM) |
Action programme of the German federal government to improve the general condition and resilience of ecosystems in Germany |
| Bank operation | Operation (e.g. lighting, heating, and cooling) of Rentenbank’s business premises |
| Banking activities | Granting of promotional loans and purchases of securities and registered bonds |
| Decarbonisation | Process of reducing carbon dioxide and CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases in various areas in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus mitigate climate change |
| Clean Development Mechanism | Mechanism to reduce greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol |
| Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) | EU Directive on obligatory and uniform sustainability reporting |
| DIN-SPEC | Standards document for a technology that had not yet been standardised until that time |
| GHG Protocol | Worldwide standard for the preparation of GHG inventories |
| Gold Standard | Standard for CO2 offset certificates |
| Growth Alliance | Initiative of Rentenbank and the TechQuartier on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture to support agrifood start-ups |
| Lending bank principle | Granting of loans via intermediate lending banks |
| International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) | International association of capital market participants, the organisation that issues the ICMA Green Bond Standards |
| German Federal Climate Action Act | German federal law that was last amended in July 2024, which is meant to ensure the attainment of national and European climate action targets |
| Carbon (dioxide) (CO2) | Greenhouse gas that has risen as a percentage of atmospheric gases since the beginning of industrialisation and is therefore causing global warming |
| Carbon equivalents (CO2e) | Number of CO2 molecules exhibiting the same greenhouse gas potential as another greenhouse gas. It is used to weight greenhouse gases according to their greenhouse gas potential |
| Carbon sequestration | Long-term sequestration of carbon |
| Carbon offset | Support of projects that sequester carbon |
| Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) | The LULUCF sector describes the greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O) caused by human behaviour as a result of land use, land use change, and forestry. Most of these emissions result from the creation and destruction of carbon sinks. Changes of these carbon sinks can occur both from unchanged land use, such as when wood stocks change in a forest, and from changed land use, as in the case of reforestation, deforestation, or the agricultural use of cropland and grassland. |
| Net zero target | Target by which all manmade emissions are eliminated by removing carbon from the atmosphere |
| Paludicultur |
Agricultural or forestry use of wet or rewetted peatlands |
| Paris Climate Agreement | Agreement between 195 countries and the EU to limit global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial level and to make efforts to limit it to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius |
| Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) |
Standard for calculating financed CO2 emissions |
| Precision farming | Targeted use of agricultural land |
| Reference scenario | An emission reduction pathway based on scientific data |
| Scope-1, -2 und -3 | Classification of emissions according to the GHG Protocol: Scope-1 comprises emissions from directly controlled sources, whereas Scope-2 comprises purchased electricity, heating, steam, and cooling. Scope-3 comprises the complete upstream and downstream supply chain. |
| SFDR Article 8 and 9 Funds | The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) of the European Union assigns financial products to different categories depending on their sustainability-related claims. Article 8 funds promote ecological or social characteristics, but without pursuing a specific sustainable investment objective. Article 9 funds pursue the explicit objective of making sustainable investments with the goal of reducing CO₂ emissions, for example. |
| (Sector) climate targets |
Emission reduction pathways related to individual sectors |
| Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations geared to economic, social, and ecological dimensions |
| Transformation | Sustainable transformation refers to the process of transforming economic and social systems to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The green transformation is limited to the topic area of environmental protection |
| Greenhouse gases (GHGs) / greenhouse gas emissions | Gases that contribute to global warming. Primarily carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), but also other gases. |
| Venture Capital | A form of private equity used to finance start-ups, often organised in funds |
| VfU Standard | Procedure for preparing a CO2 emissions inventory developed by the Association for Environmental Management and Sustainability in Financial Institutions (VfU: Verein für Umweltmanagement und Nachhaltigkeit in Finanzinstituten e.V.) |