Reference
Climate glossary
44 terms from land restoration, carbon accounting and green energy. One term per page, in plain English.
Carbon and credits
Carbon credit A carbon credit is a tradable certificate representing one tonne of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in another greenhouse gas, either kept out of the atmosphere or taken back out of it. Carbon removal Carbon removal takes carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere and puts it somewhere else, in a plant, in soil, in rock or underground. Additionality Additionality is the test of whether a project would have happened anyway. Permanence Permanence is how long removed carbon stays removed. Reversal A reversal is stored carbon returning to the atmosphere after it was counted as removed. Baseline A baseline is the description of what would have happened without the project, against which the project is measured. Leakage Leakage is emissions a project pushes elsewhere rather than prevents. Retirement Retirement is the permanent cancellation of a carbon credit in a registry so that it can never be sold or claimed again. Double counting Double counting is the same tonne of carbon being claimed more than once, by two buyers, by a company and the country it sits in, or by a landowner and the project operator. Obligated buyer An obligated buyer purchases because a rule or their own business forces them to, not out of goodwill. Registry A registry is the public database that issues carbon credits, records who holds them and records when they are retired. Net zero Net zero means an organisation has cut its emissions as far as it can and balanced whatever remains with an equal amount of carbon removal. Scope 3 emissions Scope 3 emissions are those produced by a company’s suppliers and customers rather than by its own operations or the electricity it buys.
Measurement
MRV MRV stands for measurement, reporting and verification. Verification Verification is an independent third party checking that a project did what it reported, against a published methodology. Survival rate Survival rate is the share of planted saplings still alive after a stated period. Remote sensing Remote sensing is measuring land from satellite or aircraft rather than from the ground. Green cover Green cover is the share of an area showing living vegetation, usually derived from satellite imagery.
Land and soil
Degraded land Degraded land is land whose productive capacity has fallen, through erosion, loss of topsoil, salinity, overgrazing or a falling water table. Multi tier planting Multi tier planting sets out a block in layers that grow at different speeds: a slow native canopy, fast growing biomass rows cut on a short cycle, and an understory of crops. Agroforestry Agroforestry is growing trees and crops on the same land deliberately, rather than separating them. Topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil holding almost all of its organic matter, biology and available nutrients. Soil organic carbon Soil organic carbon is carbon held in soil as decayed plant and animal matter. Biochar Biochar is a stable, carbon rich solid made by heating biomass with very little oxygen, a process called pyrolysis. Water table The water table is the depth at which ground is saturated with water. Block plantation A block plantation is a contiguous area planted as one unit, usually with a small number of species in rows. Land pooling Land pooling brings several adjoining holdings together under one agreement so they can be developed as a single parcel, with each owner keeping their title and receiving a share. Watershed A watershed is the area of land that drains rainfall to a common point, such as a stream or a tank. Native species A native species is one that occurs naturally in an area rather than having been introduced.
Energy
Hybrid renewable site A hybrid renewable site generates from more than one source on the same land and through the same grid connection, typically solar and wind with storage. Capacity factor Capacity factor is how much a plant actually generated over a period as a share of what it would have generated running flat out the whole time. Evacuation Evacuation is getting generated power off the site and into the grid, through transmission lines and a substation connection. Curtailment Curtailment is a generator being instructed to produce less than it could, usually because the grid cannot absorb it at that moment. Battery storage Battery storage holds generated electricity and releases it later. Compressed biogas Compressed biogas is methane produced by digesting organic waste such as dung and crop residue, then cleaned and compressed to vehicle fuel standard. Electrolyser An electrolyser splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity. Green hydrogen Green hydrogen is hydrogen produced by splitting water with renewable electricity, so its production adds no fossil carbon. Co firing Co firing is burning biomass alongside coal in an existing thermal power plant. Biomass pellet A biomass pellet is agricultural or woody residue dried, ground and compressed into a uniform cylinder. Feedstock Feedstock is the raw material a process runs on: crop residue for a pelleting line, dung and green waste for a digester, woody biomass for pyrolysis. Digestate Digestate is the material left after anaerobic digestion has taken the methane out of organic waste. Pyrolysis Pyrolysis is heating biomass with very little oxygen so that it cannot fully burn. Power purchase agreement A power purchase agreement, or PPA, is a long contract between a generator and a buyer setting the price, the volume and the term for electricity. Offtake Offtake is an agreement by a buyer to take an agreed quantity of what a project produces, whether power, gas, pellets or carbon removal.
A term missing
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