Knowledge Hub → Glossary
Glossary of terms.
Every term used across SYNE's ratings, methodologies and data products, defined once and grouped by category. For the full definition and how each is scored, see the relevant methodology document.
32 terms, defined in plain language
Grouped by category, not alphabetically buried
Consistent with every methodology document
Category
Ratings & scoring
Core scoring terms
- Composite score
- The single weighted-average number, from 0–100, that determines an entity's letter grade.
- AAA–D Scale
- The six-tier grade scale (AAA, AA, A, B, C, D) used identically across every SYNE Rating product.
- Non-compensatory floor
- A rule preventing a strong score in one dimension from masking a severe failure in another.
- Materiality mapping
- Adjusting criterion weights by sector or category, so what matters most is weighted accordingly.
Governance & benchmarking
- Rating Committee
- The independent panel that reviews and signs off every rating before publication.
- SYNE Index
- A two-axis benchmark plotting Standards Alignment against Data Quality & Assurance, derived from published ratings.
- Quadrant
- One of four positions on the SYNE Index - Front Runners, Rising Stars, Emerging Stars, or Backmarkers.
- Front Runner
- A SYNE Index quadrant position: strong performance, backed by rigorously verified data.
Category
Carbon & climate
Carbon market principles
- Additionality
- Whether a carbon reduction or removal would not have happened without the project.
- Permanence
- How durable a carbon reduction or removal is, and the risk it could later be reversed.
- Leakage
- Whether emissions reduced in one place are simply displaced elsewhere, not genuinely avoided.
- Double-counting
- The risk that the same tonne of avoided or removed carbon is claimed by more than one party or registry.
Verification & markets
- MRV
- Measurement, Reporting and Verification - the process behind every credible emissions figure.
- VVB
- Validation/Verification Body - an accredited third party that checks a project against its registry methodology.
- Super pollutant
- A gas such as methane or HFCs with outsized short-term warming impact relative to CO₂.
- Buffer pool
- A reserve of credits withheld to cover future reversals, protecting against permanence risk.
Category
Public sector & macro
Development indicators
- HDI
- Human Development Index - a UNDP composite of health, education and income, from 0 to 1.
- GINI coefficient
- A measure of income inequality from 0 (perfectly equal) to 100 (maximally unequal).
- PPP (purchasing power parity)
- An exchange-rate adjustment that makes GDP per capita comparable across countries' living costs.
Fiscal & institutional
- Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)
- Transparency International's annual score of perceived public-sector corruption, 0–100.
- Debt-to-GDP ratio
- A government's total debt as a percentage of its annual economic output.
- Indicative index position
- A SYNE World Index position built from public data, without the on-site verification of a full commissioned rating.
Category
Regulatory & disclosure
Disclosure regimes
- CSRD / ESRS
- The EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and its European Sustainability Reporting Standards.
- SFDR
- The EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, governing fund-level ESG disclosure.
- GHG Protocol
- The most widely used global standard for corporate greenhouse gas accounting.
Financing & oversight
- Second Party Opinion (SPO)
- An independent, pre-issuance review of a green, social or sustainability financing framework.
- EU ESG Ratings Regulation
- ESMA 2023/2631, setting authorisation and independence requirements for ESG ratings providers.
- Greenwashing
- Making a sustainability claim not supported by verifiable evidence - what data quality flags are designed to catch.
Category
Supply chain
Supplier visibility
- Nth-tier supplier
- A supplier beyond a buyer's direct (Tier 1) relationships - a raw material source several steps back in the chain.
- Onboarding disclosure questionnaire
- The structured form a supplier completes to be considered for a Supplier Rating.
Compliance & labor
- Modern slavery screening
- Dedicated forced-labor and trafficking risk screening, aligned to the UK Modern Slavery Act and ILO conventions.
- Panel-wide rating
- Rating an entire disclosed supplier base at once, rather than one supplier at a time.
Category
Data & assurance
Data quality
- Data quality flag
- A per-criterion label - Assured, Disclosed, or Estimated - describing how verifiable the underlying evidence is.
- Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions
- Direct emissions (1), purchased energy emissions (2), and value chain emissions (3) under the GHG Protocol.
Assurance levels
- Limited vs. reasonable assurance
- Two levels of independent assurance rigor - a negative-form conclusion versus a positive-form one.
- ISAE 3410 / 3000
- The international standards governing assurance engagements over greenhouse gas and other sustainability information.
Products & services
Where to go deeper.
Can't find a term?
Talk to our team directly, or check the relevant methodology document for its full definition.