The Financial Times journalist, Gillian Tett suggests, ‘If you want to hide something in the twenty-first-century world, you don't need to create a James Bond-style plot. Just cover it in acronyms.’ 61 The world of accounting for carbon is no different, with numerous acronyms and confusing terms. Here are some terms you will encounter and their definitions.
Carbon/GHG accounting A means of measuring the direct and indirect emissions to the Earth’s biosphere of CO2 and its equivalent gases from industrial activities.62
Carbon budget Refers to two concepts in the literature:
(1) an assessment of carbon cycle sources and sinks on a global level, through the synthesis of evidence for fossil-fuel and cement emissions, emissions and removals associated with land use and land use change, ocean and natural land sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2), and the resulting change in atmospheric CO2 concentration. This is referred to as the Global Carbon Budget;
(2) the maximum amount of cumulative net global anthropogenic CO2 emissions that would result in limiting global warming to a given level with a given probability, taking into account the effect of other anthropogenic climate forcers. This is referred to as the Total Carbon Budget when expressed starting from the pre-industrial period, and as the Remaining Carbon Budget when expressed from a recent specified date.63
Carbon footprint Mike Berners-Lee defines the term as a way of ‘describing an object or action’s overall contribution to global warming, taking into account CO2 as well as other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide.’ It is, ‘the best estimate that we can get of the full climate change impact of something.' 64
A widely requoted story is that the term ‘carbon footprint’ was invented by a marketing agency working for an oil corporation. It was used as part of a campaign to redirect attention away from fossil fuel organisations to individuals for solving climate change and global warming.65
Carbon neutral The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) being emitted is equal to the amount of carbon being absorbed from the atmosphere.
Carbon offsetting/ carbon sequestration Where a polluting organisation pays somebody else to compensate for the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In theory, the third party’s actions will remove carbon from the atmosphere or prevent carbon elsewhere in the ecosystem. Examples of purchasing carbon offset reduction schemes or removal projects include, land restoration, the planting of trees, carbon storage technology, and investing in renewal energy projects.
Natural carbon sequestration tends to be a more narrowly defined process capturing and storing carbon dioxide through trees, vegetation, soils, peat, marshes and oceans.66 Industrial sequestration looks to technology for carbon capture and store (CCS).
However, there is debate as to the ethics of carbon offsetting. This is because of their indirect nature and that schemes can be difficult to verify and assure.
Greenpeace’s Executive Director, Jennifer Morgan, declared, ‘Offsetting schemes are pure greenwash so that fossil fuel companies can continue to do what they've been doing and make a profit. We are in a climate emergency, and we need phasing out of fossil fuels.67
SBTi advises that, ‘Offsets are only considered to be an option for companies wanting to finance additional emission reductions beyond their science-based target (SBT) or net-zero target.’ 68
Climate change Refers to the increasing changes in the measures of climate over a long period – including precipitation, temperature and wind patterns.
Climate transition plan Is a time-bound action plan that clearly outlines how an organisation will pivot its existing assets, operations, and entire business model towards a trajectory that aligns with the latest and most ambitious climate science recommendations. i.e., halving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and reaching net-zero by 2050 at the latest, thereby limiting global warming to 1.5’C.69
They are critical for keeping organisations accountable for their net-zero pledges. The UK Government view is that the climate transition plan should set out
High-level targets the organisation is using to mitigate climate risk, including greenhouse gas reduction targets (e.g., a net-zero commitment),
Interim milestones, and
Actionable steps the organisation plans to take to hit those targets.70
Global warming Refers to the rise in global temperatures due mainly to the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The IPCC highlights the reference, ‘to the increase in global surface temperature relative to a baseline reference period, averaging over a period sufficient to remove interannual variations (e.g., 20 or 30 years).’ 71
Net zero As the Carbon Trust points out a global definition of net zero for business has yet to be agreed upon. A working definition is given as ‘Achieving a state in which the activities within the value-chain of a company result in no net impact on the climate from greenhouse gas emissions.’ 72 This is when all greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere are equivalent to the greenhouse gases being removed from the atmosphere on a global scale.
Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions Scope 1 covers an organisation’s direct GHG emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 covers indirect GHG emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating and cooling consumed by the reporting organisation. Scope 3 covers all other indirect GHG emissions that occur in an organisation’s value chain.73
Wicked problem A problem or policy issue that is difficult to solve because of multiple, incomplete, intractable, contradictory, contested and/or changing requirements that are difficult to recognise, often without a single solution.74
