A Glosssary of Climate Change & Forestry
There are 107 entries in this glossary.All
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Carbon Capture and Storage, or CSS |
Capture of CO2 emitted from large point sources, compression, transportation and injection into underground geological formations for long-term storage. |
| Carbon Cycle |
The natural processes that govern the exchange of carbon (in the form of CO2, carbonates and organic compounds etc.) among the atmospehre, ocean and terrestrial systems. Major components include photosynthesis, respiration and decay between atmospheric and terrestrial systems (approximately 120 billion tonnes/year (gigatonnes)); thermodynamic invasion and evasion between the ocean and atmosphere, operation of the carbon pump and mixing in the deep ocean (approx. 90 billion tonnes/year). Deforestation and fossil fuel burning releases approximately 8 Gt into the atmosphere annually. The total carbon in the reservoirs is approximately 2300 Gt in land biota, soil and detritus, 600 Gt in the atmosphere and 38,000 Gt in the oceans. (Fugures from IPCC Third Assessment Report 2001.) Over still longer periods, the geological processes of outgassing, volcanism, sedimentation and weathering are also important. |
| Carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2eq |
A metric that allows the contribution to radiative forcing of climate by different GHGs to be compared with forcing from CO2. The Kyoto Protocol utilizes the 100-year Global Warming Potential (as reported in the Second Assessment Report of the IPCC 1995) to assess relative contributions GHGs on a mass weighted basis. |
| Carbon Dioxide Fertilization |
Enhancement of plant growth or yield as a result of an increase in the atmospheric concentration of CO2. |
| Carbon Dioxide, or CO2 |
A naturally occuring gas, it is also produced by natural process such as respiration, decay of vegetation or forest firest, and as a by-product of human activities including use of fossil fuels and biomass, as well as land-use changes and other industrial processes. It is the principal anthropogenic greenhouse gas thatt affects the earth's temperature. it is the reference gas againts which ither GHGs are indexed and therefore has a 'Global Warming Potential' (see entry) of 1. Carbon dioxide constitutes approximately 0.038 per cent of the atmosphere. The mass ratio of carbon to carbon dioxide is 12/44. |
| Carbon Market |
A popular term for a trading system through which countries may buy or sell units of greenhouse gas emissions(not just carbon dioxide) in an effort to meet their national limits on emissions, either under the Kyoto Protocol or under other agreements, such as that among member states of the European Union. The term comes from the fact that carbon dioxide is the predominant greenhouse gas and other gases are measured in unit scalled ‘carbon-dioxide equivalents’. |
| Carbon Sequestration |
The storage of carbon or carbon dioxide in the forests, soils, ocean, or underground in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, coal seams and saline aquifers. Examples include: the separation and storage of CO2 from flue gases or the processing of fossil fuels to produce H2; and the direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through land-use change, afforestation, reforestation, ocean fertilization, and agricultural practices to enhance soil carbon. |
| Carbon Sinks |
Natural or man-made systems that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store them. Trees, plants and the oceans all absorb CO2 and, therefore, are carbon sinks. |
| Carbon Tax |
A tax placed on carbon emissions. It is similar to a BTU tax, except that the tax rate is based on the fuel’s carbon content. |
| Certified Emission Reductions, or CERs |
A CER represents one tonne of CO2-equivalent green-house gas emissions reductions achieved through a Clean Development Mechanism project. It can be used to meet an Annex B Party’s emission commitment or as the unit of trade in greenhouse gas emissions trading systems. lCERs are long-term CERs issued for an afforestation or reforestation CDM project, that expire at the end of the crediting period for that project. tCERs are temporary CERs issued for an afforestation or reforestation CDM project, that expire at the end of the commitment period following the one in which they were issued. |
