A regulatory term referring to material or energy entering the system being studied that has been drawn from the environment without previous human tra.
Elementary flow is part of the formal vocabulary used in product carbon-footprint methodology and lifecycle-based climate accounting. For this glossary, the key point is understanding how the source defines the term and where that definition sits within broader compliance or data requirements.
ISO 14067:2018 - Greenhouse gases — Carbon footprint of products
material or energy entering the system being studied that has been drawn from the environment without previous human transformation, or material or energy leaving the system being studied that is released into the environment without subsequent human transformation
Reference: 3.1.3.10
In practice, this term matters when translating official-source language into product, battery, supply-chain, or compliance data models used in product carbon-footprint methodology and lifecycle-based climate accounting.
For Minespider, elementary flow is useful when turning dense legal text into a clearer operational vocabulary that can be linked to traceability, product data, and compliance workflows.