A Glosssary of Climate Change & Forestry
There are 107 entries in this glossary.E
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Early Crediting |
Article 12 on the Clean Development Mechanism indicates that early crediting will be given from CDM projects undertaken between 2000 and 2008. These credits can be used to assist in achieving compliance in the first commitment period. |
| Eligibility |
Discussion of eligibility relates firstly to the requirements for Annex B Parties to be eligible to participate in the three Kyoto Mechanisms and secondly to whether a project would be eligible to qualify for credit under the CDM. In the first case, Parties are eligible to participate in the Kyoto Mechanisms if they meet certain requirements. These include: being in compliance with commitments under Articles 5 and 7 and submitting the last available national inventory report; having a national system for the estimation of GHG emissions; and having ratified the Protocol. In the second case, eligibility in the CDM refers to the type of technology or project that would qualify for credit. This may depend on the sustainable development criteria of the host country, the size of the project and the type of technology used, e.g.nuclear, fossil fuel or renewable (see ‘Positive and Negative Lists’). |
| Emissions (UNFCCC definition) |
The release of greenhouse gases and/or their precursors into the atmosphere over a specified area and period of time. |
| Emissions Cap |
A mandated restraint, in a scheduled time frame, that puts a ‘ceiling’ on the total amount of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that can be released into the atmosphere. The Kyoto Protocol mandates caps on the GHG emissions released by developed countries listed in Annex B. |
| Emissions Permit |
The phrase emissions permit is sometimes used to refer to the non-transferable or tradable entitlement bestowed by an administrative authority (intergovernmental organization, central or local government agency) to a regional (country, sub-national) or a sectoral (an individual firm) entity to emit a pollutant within specified constraints. In some settings, an emissions permit is required for activities that create emissions, and the operator responsible for emissions must acquire and surrender emissions allowances in amount equal to actual emissions. |
| Emissions Reduction Unit, or ERU |
An ERU represents one tonne of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions reductions 2achieved through a Joint Implementation 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. |
| Emissions Scenarios |
A plausible representation of the future development of emissions of substances that are radiatively active (e.g.greenhouse gases, aerosols), based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about driving forces (such as demographic and socio-economic development, technological change) and their key relationships. Concentration scenarios, derived from emissions scenarios, are used as input into a climate models to compute climate projections. |
