An ontology for anthropogenic impact accounting

Accounting for climate impact and action is just a special case of impact accounting. We aim to make our ontology as generic as possible so that it can be applied to all forms and fields of impact accounting (i.e., to all SDGs).

Ontology

Our ontology currently comprises 15 classes and 15 axioms.

Classes

thing
- agent
- role
  - owner
  - operator
  - claimant
  - auditor
- environment
- parameter
- state
- event
- activity
  - claim (v)
  - audit
  - measure
- instrument
- procedure
  - standard
- claim (n)

Axioms

An agent engages in an activity.
An activity impacts an environment.
An environment is defined by (interrelated) parameters.
A state is the value of a parameter P at time t.
A procedure guides an activity.
An activity is performed with an instrument.
An activity has at least one input.
An activity has at least one output.
A claim is a statement about a (some specific) thing.
A standard guides a claim.
An agent enacts a role.
An owner (role) is an agent who owns some specific thing.
An operator (role) is an agent who operates some specific instrument.
A claimant (role) is an agent who makes a claim.
An auditor (role) is an agent who audits a claim.
An event impacts and environment.

Definitions

Class	Definition	Synonyms	Notes
thing	"Anything perceivable or conceivable." ["object" - ISO 9000:2015(E)]	object, entity, item	"Every individual in the OWL world is a member of the class owl:Thing. Thus each user-defined class is implicitly a subclass of owl:Thing."[1]
thing:claim(n)	"[A]n assertion that something is true." (OED, Google)		A report is a claim.
thing:agent	"[A] person or thing that takes an active role or produces a specified effect." (OED, Google) "[The] doer of an action, typically expressed as the subject of an active verb or in a by phrase with a passive verb." (OED, Google)
thing:activity			'activity' vs. 'action'?
thing:activity:measure(v)
thing:activity:claim(v)	"[S]tate or assert that something is the case..." (OED, Google) "[A]ssert that one has gained or achieved (something)." (OED, Google)
thing:activity:audit(v)
thing:environment
thing:parameter
thing:state
thing:event
thing:role
thing:role:owner
thing:role:operator
thing:role:claimant
thing:role:developer
thing:role:auditor
thing:control
thing:control:procedure	"[A]n established or official way of doing something." (OED, Google) "[A] series of actions conducted in a certain order or manner." (OED, Google)	method
thing:instrument
thing:instrument:standard	"[A] level of quality or attainment." (OED, Google) "[A] required or agreed level of quality or attainment." (OED, Google) "[S]omething used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative evaluations." (OED, Google) "[P]rinciples of conduct informed by notions of honour and decency." (OED, Google)

process	"[A] series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end." (OED, Google) "[A] natural series of changes." (OED, Google) "[A] systematic series of mechanized or chemical operations that are performed in order to produce something." (OED, Google)
project
methodology	"[A] system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity." (OED, Google)
indicator
reputation
constraint
condition
requirement

Application of the ontology

TODO: this table is a work in progress and still needs A LOT of work.

Ontology (What are the 'things' that the accounting system should know about? What are the defining properties or characteristics of each 'thing'?)		Epistemology (How will the accounting system get information about these things and their attributes?)	Semiology (How will each of the things be represented in the accounting system?)
Agents	unique identifier (identity) type (individual or group; if group, what type of group, e.g. organisation, company or movement; auditor) Develop or source a schema describing a minimum set of properties by agents type	An agent asserts their identity though digital signatures Agents provide proofs of their properties through verified credentials Other parties can verify agent properties and make claims about their methods and results	Digital signature Verified credentials Validation claim by third party
Role	See: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/CHEBI_50906 Definition "A role is particular behaviour which a material entity may exhibit."^^xsd:string
Activities	activity class (e.g. IPCC categories) activity description including objective(s) location start time end time (possibly) agent input(s) (e.g. materials and energy; consumables and non-consumables) process(es): a process links inputs to products and waste output(s) product + waste objective (experience, create, reduce, destroy, avoid, verify) (optional / not required in all instances) * An audit is a special type of activity where the input is a claim and the output is an evaluation of that claim.	Ex ante: An agent asserts their intentions to act in a Projet Design Document (PDD) Ex post: An agent describe their actions in a Projet Design Document (PDD) The activity and its results and impacts are documented by the agent at intervals in a monitoring report (MR)	unique identifier Consider a token for an activity that contains all the essential elements in column 1. Such a token must have a time limit and proof of life requirements (e.g. minimum process data feed to confirm it is ongoing) NACE activity codes IPCC NAICS ISIC
Environments	location and temportal extent (either objective or referential) definition (in terms of parameters of interest)
States	metrics referring to parameters type (actual [measured] or baseline [counterfactual]) *State as in environmental state (not political state)	Parameters/indicators for states Parameters/indicators delivered by agents via PDDs and MRs	unique identifier impact claim per state
Parameters	name definition unit of measure rationale calculation credibility (Emission factors are parameters, for example.)		unique identifier
Standards	name author(s) applicability - type of agent, type of activity, state requirements (e.g. reporting requirements, calculation requirements) version method(s) precision accuracy / std error emission factors (defaults)		unique identifier
Claims	agent activity "before" state for every every environment and aspect of the state under consideration "after" state for every every environment and aspect of the state under consideration causal connection between activity and the resultant state (e.g. scope 1 (primary/secondary), scope 2 or scope 3) standard followed

Epistemology

We know about things through direct participation in them or through representations.

For things we experience directly we do not need any further assurance that they are true.

Protobuf implementation (example)

UML diagram (hosted on Lucidchart; login required)

Protos

Hedera Hashgraph Guardian implementation (example)

(TODO: add files)

Code resources

GitHub

TODOs and next steps:

Add a definition and example to each of the classes in Protégé. Also do it on this page.
For discussion: Where do we list the natural processes that lead to climate change? Should there be an event class? An event is like an activity but without the intention of a HUMAN agent. An accident is an event but it is not an activity.
Align the ontology with OWL specifications and syntax.
Expand the second and third… n levels of the ontology, as necessary.
Embed ontology into BFO and its extensions. Some useful resources: BFO 6-part video series. Perhaps check if we should not rather go with AFO.
See if we can use any of these ontologies for the spatial classes: W3C, DBpedia
Can we / should we try to align our ontology with ISDA CDM?
Develop tools for applying the ontology (see our GitHub repo for what has already been done).
Get industry entities to test our ontology & tools. Possible testers:
1. SAP (https://community.sap.com/topics/sustainability/climate21)
Incorporate the following aspects about roles into our ontology: they are context-specific; they are sometimes mutually exclusive; a role restricts the set of activities that an agent can perform in the context within which they enact the role; some roles require the enacting agent to have met certain requirements to be allowed to enact the role in that context.

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