Carbon Jargon
Additionality: A requirement that a project or
activity provide abatement that is additional to any that would
occur in the absence of the project or activity, and that is
additional to abatement that would occur anyway to meet Australia's
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme cap or International Target.
Annex I countries: Countries listed in Annex I
to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), including all developed (OECD) countries and the
countries in transition in central and Eastern Europe (including
Russia and Ukraine). In the context of the Kyoto Protocol,
'Annex I country' is used to refer to a party included in Annex I
to the UNFCCC with a commitment inscribed in Annex B to the Kyoto
Protocol.
Australian Emissions Unit (AEU): An emissions
unit issued under the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
(CPRS), also referred to as a 'carbon pollution permit'.
Business unit: A unit that is recognised by an
entity as having administrative responsibility for one or more
facilities of the corporation.
Carbon dioxide equivalence (CO2-e):
A standard measure that takes account of the different global
warming potentials of greenhouse gases and expresses the cumulative
effect in a common unit.
Carbon footprint: A measure of the carbon
dioxide equivalent emissions attributable to an activity commonly
used at an individual, household, organisation or product
level.
Carbon neutrality: Commonly refers to a
situation where the net emissions associated with a product or an
organisation's activities are equal to zero through the acquisition
and retirement of carbon offsets that meet additionality
criteria.
Carbon offset: Represents a reduction in
greenhouse gases, or enhancement of greenhouse gas removal from the
atmosphere by sinks, relative to a business-as-usual baseline.
Carbon offsets are tradable and often used to negate (or offset)
all or part of another entity's emissions.
Carbon sink: A natural or manmade reservoir
that accumulates and stores carbon dioxide for an indefinite
period.
Certified Emission Reduction (CER): A Kyoto
unit corresponding to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions, and issued for verified emission reductions or removals
achieved by projects approved under the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM). CDM projects undertaking afforestation and
reforestation activities issue temporary and long term units known
as tCERs and lCERs, which must be replaced after a specified
period.
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): The CDM
allows greenhouse gas emission reduction projects to take place in
countries that have no emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol,
yet are signatories. The CDM is defined in Article 12 of the
Kyoto Protocol.
Emission factor: A factor that gives the
kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted per unit of
activity.
Emissions Reduction Unit (ERU): A Kyoto unit
corresponding to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions reduced or sequestered arising from a Joint
Implementation (defined in Article 6 of the Kyoto Protocol)
project.
Facility: An activity, or a series of
activities (including ancillary activities), that involve the
production of greenhouse gas emissions, the production of energy or
the consumption of energy and that form a single undertaking or
enterprise and meet the requirements of the National Greenhouse and
Energy Reporting (NGER) Regulations.
Greenhouse gases: The atmospheric gases
responsible for causing global warming and climate change. The six
Kyoto Protocol classes of greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide
(CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide
(N2O), hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs), per-fluorocarbons
(PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
International target: The greenhouse gas
emissions target that Australia has committed to meet by 2012 under
the Kyoto Protocol and the target agreed for Australia in any
replacement to the Kyoto Protocol.
Joint Implementation (JI): A market-based
implementation mechanism defined in Article 6 of the Kyoto
Protocol, allowing Annex I countries or companies from these
countries to implement projects jointly that limit or reduce
emissions or enhance sinks, and to share the ERUs.
Kyoto Protocol: An international treaty created
under the UNFCCC in 1997. It entered into force in
2005. Among other things, the Kyoto Protocol sets binding
targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by developed
countries and countries in transition. It includes individual
emission reduction targets for Annex I countries to be met within
the first commitment period of 2008-12.
Kyoto unit: An emissions unit recognised for
compliance under the Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto units include
Assigned Amount Units (AAUs), CERs (including tCERs and lCERs),
ERUs and Removal Units (RMUs).
Life cycle assessment: The compilation and
evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental
impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle.
National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS):
Government Standard providing guidance on what constitutes a
genuine, additional voluntary offset in the context of the Carbon
Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). It sets a voluntary minimum
standard for: carbon offset eligibility and generation; carbon
footprint calculation; achieving carbon neutrality; and audit and
verification of carbon claims.
National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER)
System: The national reporting framework for information
related to the greenhouse gas emissions, and energy production and
use of corporations operating in Australia. The framework is
established under Commonwealth legislation, which makes
registration and reporting mandatory for corporations whose
greenhouse gas emissions or energy production or use meet certain
thresholds.
Non-Annex I Countries: Parties classified in
the low-income group under the Kyoto Protocol, with very few
classified as middle-income. They are not obligated by the limits
of emissions in the Kyoto Protocol. Fast growing economy countries
like China, South Africa, India and Brazil are still in this
non-obligated group.
Offset: See carbon offset.
Operational control: The greatest authority to
introduce and implement any or all of the following for the
Facility: (i) operating policies; (ii) health and safety policies;
(iii) environmental policies. Only one corporation can have
operational control over a Facility at any time.
Permanence: With regard to offsets, permanence
requires the generation of offsets to have actually occurred and
the carbon stored or sequestered not to be released into the
atmosphere in the future.
Removal Unit (RMU): A Kyoto unit corresponding
to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
sequestered and issued for removals of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere by eligible land use, land-use change and forestry
activities.
Scope 1 emissions: The release of greenhouse
gas into the atmosphere as a direct result of activities at a
Facility.
Scope 2 emissions: The release of greenhouse
gas as a result of electricity generation, heating, cooling or
steam that is consumed by a Facility.
Scope 3 emissions: The release of greenhouse
gas into the atmosphere that is generated in the wider economy as a
consequence of a facility's activities but that are physically
produced by another Facility.
Sequestration: The removal of atmospheric
carbon dioxide, either through biological processes (for example,
photosynthesis in plants and trees), or geological processes (for
example, storage of carbon dioxide in underground reservoirs).
Sink: See carbon sink.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC): An international treaty, adopted in 1992, aimed
at achieving the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in
the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous
anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
Voluntary Carbon Unit (VCU): A unit
corresponding to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions reduced, certified and issued under the Voluntary Carbon
Standard.
Voluntary Emissions Reduction (VER): Emission
reduction units that have been generated according to defined
voluntary standards.
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