Climate change glossary

	Question	Answer	Validation timestamp
1	Anthropogenic methane	Methane emissions derived from human activities such as coal mining, agricultural practices, wastewater treatment, certain industrial processes, and oil and gas systems.
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2	Baseline or reference	The state against which change is measured. In the context of climate change transformation pathways, the term ‘baseline scenarios’ refers to scenarios based on the assumption that no mitigation policies or measures will be implemented beyond those already in force and/or legislated or planned to be adopted. Baseline scenarios are not intended to be predictions of the future, but rather counterfactual constructions that can serve to highlight the level of emissions that would occur without further policy efforts.
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3	Carbon border adjustment mechanisms	Mechanisms that act to equalize the price of carbon between domestic products and imports, to eliminate financial incentives to relocate production outside regions with strong climate controls.
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4	Carbon dioxide emission budget	For a given temperature rise limit, for example a 1.5°C or 2°C long-term limit, the corresponding carbon budget reflects the total amount of carbon emissions that can be emitted for temperatures to stay below that limit.
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5	Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)	A way to place emissions of various radiative forcing agents on a common footing by accounting for their effect on the climate. It describes, for a given mixture and amount GHGs, the amount of CO2 that would have the same global warming ability, when measured over a specified time period.
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6	Carbon markets	A term for a carbon trading system through which countries may buy or sell units of GHG emissions 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.
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7	Carbon neutrality	Is achieved when an actor’s net contribution to global CO2 emissions is zero. Any CO2 emissions attributable to an actor’s activities are fully compensated by CO2 reductions or removals exclusively claimed by the actor, irrespective of the time period or the relative magnitude of emissions and removals involved.
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8	Carbon price	The price for a voided or released CO2 or CO2e emissions. This may refer to the rate of a carbon tax, or the price of emission permits.
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9	Conditional nationally determined contribution	A conditional nationally determined contribution proposed by some countries that is contingent on a range of possible conditions, such as the ability of national legislatures to enact the necessary laws, ambitious action from other countries, realization of finance and technical support, or other factors.
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10	Double counting	Double counting involves two countries taking credit for the same emissions reductions, thereby giving the impression that the world has reduced emissions more than it actually has.
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11	Emissions trading	A market-based instrument used to limit emissions. The environmental objective or sum of total allowed emissions is expressed as an emissions cap. The cap is divided in tradable emission permits that are allocated – either by auctioning or handing out for free – to entities within the jurisdiction of the trading scheme.
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12	Financial system	A financial system is a set of global, regional or firm-specific institutions and practices used to facilitate the exchange of funds. Financial systems can be organized using market principles, central planning, or a hybrid of both.
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13	Food security	A situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
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14	Food systems	Food systems are the public policy decisions, the national and global systems (including production, farming, processing and global supply chains), and the individuals and groups (public and private), that influence the quantity and quality of food available for all.
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15	Global warming potential	An index representing the combined effect of the differing times GHGs remain in the atmosphere and their relative effectiveness in absorbing outgoing infrared radiation.
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16	Greenhouse gases (GHGs)	The atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming and climatic change. The major GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).
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17	Integrated assessment models	Models that seek to combine knowledge from multiple disciplines in the form of equations and/or algorithms, in order to explore complex environmental problems. As such, they describe the full chain of climate change, from production of GHGs to atmospheric responses. This necessarily includes relevant links and feedbacks between socioeconomic and biophysical processes.
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18	Intended nationally determined contribution	Intended NDCs are submissions from countries describing the national actions that they intend to take to reach the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal of limiting warming to well below 2°C. Once a country has ratified the Paris Agreement, its intended NDC is automatically converted to its NDC, unless it chooses to further update it.
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19	Kyoto Protocol	An international agreement signed in 1997 and which came into force in 2005, standing on its own, and requiring separate ratification by governments, but linked to the UNFCCC.
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20	Land use, land-use change and forestry	A GHG inventory sector that covers emissions and removals of GHGs resulting from direct human-induced land use, land- use change and forestry activities.
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21	Least-cost pathway	Least-cost pathway scenarios identify the least expensive combination of mitigation options to fulfil a specific climate target. A least-cost scenario is based on the premise that, if an overarching climate objective is set, society wants to achieve this at the lowest possible cost over time.
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22	Likely chance	A likelihood greater than 66 per cent chance. Used in assessments to convey the probabilities of meeting temperature limits.
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23	Mitigation	In the context of climate change, mitigation relates to a human intervention to reduce the sources or ennhance the sinks of GHGs. Examples include using fossil fuels more efficiently for industrial processes or electricity generation, switching to solar energy or wind power, improving the insulation of buildings, and expanding forests and other ‘sinks’ to remove greater amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere.
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24	Nationally determined contribution (NDC)	Submissions by countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement which presents their national efforts to reach the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal of limiting warming to well below 2°C.
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25	Offset	In climate policy, a unit of CO2e emissions that is reduced, avoided or sequestered to compensate for emissions occurring elsewhere.
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26	Purchasing power parity	A measurement that economists use to compare the spending power between two or more nations.
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27	Scenario	A description of how the future may unfold based on ‘if-then’ propositions. Scenarios typically include an initial socioeconomic situation and a description of the key driving forces and future changes in emissions, temperatures, or other climate change-related variables.
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28	S-curve	Adoption of new technologies often follows an S-curve trajectory. Under an S-curve, growth follows a non- linear pattern in which the curve initially increases slowly, before accelerating rapidly to a faster linear growth rate. As the variable approaches a new saturation point, the growth rate decelerates until a steady state is reached.
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29	Source	Any process, activity or mechanism that releases a GHG, an aerosol or a precursor of a GHG or aerosol into the atmosphere.
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