Glossary
| Carbon sinks | Natural features that absorb greenhouse gases, such as peat bogs, seagrass meadows or forests. |
| CO2 | Carbon dioxide |
| Climate Change Committee | A body established by the Climate Change Act 2008 to advise the Government on measures needed to meet the UK's targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. |
| Decarbonisation | The process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with a system, operation, product or service to net-zero. |
| Energy Performance Certificates | Information providing an assessment of the energy efficiency of a building, using a rating scale from A (highly efficient) to G (very inefficient). |
| Greenhouse gases | Gases which are transparent to incoming solar radiation but absorb infra-red radiation emitted by the Earth, leading to a net increase in the amount of energy in the Earth system. The most significant greenhouse gases relevant to human-driven climate change are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. |
| Gross greenhouse gas emissions | The total emissions due to the activities of an organisation or within a geographical area. |
| Lifecycle emissions | The total emissions generated by a product, including its manufacture, transport and disposal as well as emissions from its use. |
| Net greenhouse gas emissions | The gross emissions of an organisation or geographical area, minus any emissions that it offsets. |
| Net-zero | This is shorthand for net greenhouse gas emissions being zero. |
| Offsetting | Activities that do not directly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but either prevent emissions or degradation of carbon sinks elsewhere, or increase absorption of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Absorption of greenhouse gases can be achieved directly, for example by planting trees, or indirectly by purchasing offset credits from a certified scheme that guarantees to implement measures that will absorb greenhouse gases. Prevention of emissions or degradation of carbon sinks can only be achieved by purchasing offset credits, and the availability of these will decrease to zero as net-zero emissions are achieved globally. |
| Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions | Emissions scopes categorise emissions for which an organisation or geographical area is responsible, based on where and how those emissions are generated.
|
Share this page
