Climate Facts
Here you will find more context about the facts that carbon calculations build on. We aim to explain in simple terms what different words and abbreviations mean.
A
The atmosphere is the layer of gases that goes all around planet Earth. 99 % of these gases are nitrogen and oxygen; another example is carbon dioxide (0.04 %). The…
The Anthropocene means “the age of man”. The word refers to the massive impact that humans have had on Earth. Something which many scientists believe is the cause of a…
The albedo effect is the ability that a surface has to reflect light. For example, the average albedo effect of the Earth is 0.3. The number shows that the Earth's surface…
The Agenda 2030 is an international framework of action with five main parts. It is for the people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. The plan comes from about 40 years of…
Acidity exists naturally in the environment. For example, lakes and soils in forests are often naturally acidic. Meaning they are more or less sour. When an abundance of acidic elements…
B
Brown coal is a type of coal that is also known as lignite. It is used as a fuel to produce electricity. Today, it meets about a third of the world's electricity demand.…
Biofuels come from biomass and are used as fuel for vehicles and to generate electricity/heat. Biofuel is a collective word for many different energy sources from organic matter. Such as…
Biodiversity, or biological diversity, refers to the diverse lifeforms in one area, which means the variety of living species. For example, a natural forest has an incredible biodiversity of plants,…
C
CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility. Today, it is a standard part of most sustainable businesses. It helps companies contribute to a better society by working with social and environmental issues. More…
COP28 is the upcoming 28th Conference of the Parties for climate change. It will occur between 30 November and 23 December 2023. COP28 will take place in Dubai, in the United Arab…
COP27 is the 27th Conference of the Parties for climate change. It happened in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, between the 6th and 20th of November 2022. The Conference of the Parties, meaning the…
COP26 stands for the 26th Conference of the Parties. It is part of the annual climate change meetings organised by the United Nations. The meeting took place in Glasgow, Scotland, from…
Conference of the Parties – COP – is the name of the yearly international meeting that focuses on climate change. The purpose is to supervise and organise the efforts to fight global…
Climate refugees, or climate migrants, are one of the many consequences of climate change. It refers to the growing number of people displaced because of natural disasters or other climate-related changes.…
The Earth's climate refers to the weather over a long period. In other words, the climate is like the pattern of the weather. It gives an idea of the average…
A climate hero is someone who does good things for the environment. It can refer to a private person or an entire organisation. Of course, it is also the name…
Today, it is a scientific fact that humans have caused climate change. The main reason is because many human activities release greenhouse gases. The emissions are causing global warming and the…
Climate anxiety, or eco-anxiety, is a worry and fear about the future because of climate change. It is connected to the focus that society and the media have on the…
A circular economy is the opposite of a traditional linear economy. It is a sustainable economic model that focuses on reducing waste and optimising the value of resources. In comparison,…
Carbon Capture and Storage – CSS – is a technology that stores and captures CO2. For example, it can catch and store emissions from industries. CSS is considered a way…
Carbon reservoirs are the parts of the Earth that store carbon, such as the ocean. Other examples of carbon reservoirs are the soil, land vegetation and the atmosphere. More so,…
It is increasingly common to hear about companies that are carbon positive. It means that they remove more CO2 from the atmosphere than they produce. Another word for this is…
D
The doughnut economy is an economic model that aims to stay within the planet's boundaries. It is a sustainable model that strives to meet human needs within the Earth's ecological boundaries. This…
Disaster mitigation means decreasing the impact of disasters on people and the environment. Because of climate change, there is an increasing need for disaster mitigation worldwide. The climate-related disasters have…
Deforestation means the clearing of forest land. It can be a part of or even an entire forest that gets cut down. Throughout history, clearing forest land was common to…
E
Energy storage refers to capturing and storing already produced energy. Storing renewable energy effectively and cheaply is essential for sustainable development. Today, most storage possibilities are too expensive and need to be more effective. Although,…
When referring to emissions in climate talks, people are most likely referring to greenhouse gas emissions. Particularly the emissions that come from human activities and lead to climate change. Emissions definition…
Emission trading is a market that aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions. It grew more popular with the Kyoto protocol, the first international agreement to fight climate change. Emission trading…
The Ecological Footprint (EF) shows how sustainable one's consumption is. The measure indicates how much a person, country or company affects the Earth. It does so by measuring the land…
An ecosystem can refer to a small or big natural area, even the entire Earth. It is the network between all living organisms, weather and landscape of that area. In…
Earth crisis is a term that captures the emergency of climate change. Although, it is more common to hear about the planetary crisis. The planetary crisis concerns three issues: climate change,…
F
Fuels that come from dead organic material are known as fossil fuels. That is why it is called fossil, which means the remains of a dead plant or animal. Today,…
Flying is the most damaging means of transport for the environment. Therefore it has become a popular topic concerning climate change. The industry is responsible for about 5 % of global GHG…
G
Greenwashing is when a company "paints its business green" as a way to take advantage of people who care for the environment. Global awareness of climate change is increasing, and…
The so-called greenhouse effect is necessary for all life on Earth. It contributes to absorbing the heat of the sun in the atmosphere. Thereby it heats the planet to a…
Green Climate Fund (GCF) refers to the green climate fund of the United Nations. It is the world's largest fund that aims to tackle climate change. It builds on the idea…
Gold Standard is a certificate for climate change projects with a very high standard. Among things, it shows that a project contributes to various SDG goals. Primarily, the projects aim to…
The climate on Earth is getting warmer, which is known as global warming. Changes in the Earth's temperature happen naturally; however, human activities have interfered with this natural process. Activities,…
The Glasgow Climate Pact was the most crucial global commitment of COP26. The latter was the 26th meeting on climate change, which happened in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021. For example,…
Greenhouse gases, GHG, are part of the greenhouse effect. The latter is the process that keeps the Earth warm. The most important greenhouse gas is CO2 (carbon dioxide). Other examples are…
H
Hydropower, also known as hydroelectric power or water power, uses water to produce electricity. Generally, it captures the force and energy of fast-running water in rivers. Hydropower is considered a…
The human footprint describes how humans have been changing the Earth's surface. The footprint of humanity is visible all over the world. It is the environmental impact of an expanded…
Helium is the second most common element in the universe. However, on Earth, it is rare. It is the only non-renewable resource that the planet has. Therefore, humans have to be…
I
IPCC is short for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel is a UN body that documents scientific knowledge about the changing climate. They update decision-makers and suggest strategies for mitigation.…
INDC stands for Intended Nationally Determined Contribution. It refers to the national documents handed in before COP21in Paris in 2015. Each nation created a plan of their intended emission reductions to…
J
Joint implementations (JI) is a mechanism in the Kyoto Protocol - the first international protocol on climate change from 1997. It allowed countries to buy emission rights by financing projects…
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The Kyoto Protocol is the first additional protocol to the UNFCCC; it was created in 1997 and entered into force in 2005. The global agreement set mandatory limits on greenhouse gas…
L
LULUCF stands for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry. It is one out of six areas that nations report to the UN. More precisely, to the United Nations Framework Convention…
The loss and damage fund was the highlight of COP27 in November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Nations finally agreed to create a fund to compensate for the loss and…
"Locally produced" means products grown or produced close to the consumer. There is a short distance between the producer and the consumer, in contrast to products transported across the world,…
M
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases on Earth. It is a natural part of the greenhouse effect and global warming. Emissions of methane are the second largest…
Meat and climate change - meat production contributes to climate change in various ways. The sector emits enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, like CO2 and methane. FAO states that meat- and…
N
Nuclear power is an energy source that uses atomic reactions to produce electricity. It requires massive facilities known as nuclear power plants. Nuclear power is a non-renewable energy source as…
Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas (GHG), also known as laughing gas or happy gas. It contributes to the Earth's greenhouse effect and today's global warming. Most of the emissions…
In global climate negotiations, such as the COP meetings, negotiation groups refer to nations that have similar agendas and choose to negotiate together. For example, the European Union (EU) and the…
Negative emissions refer to removing greenhouse gases (like CO2) from the atmosphere. It is common to hear about it in climate change discussions, as removing these gases can help mitigate…
O
The ozone layer is an essential part of the atmosphere. It is a protective shield, made of the gas ozone, against the sun’s UV rays. The rays are otherwise harmful…
Overfertilization happens when nature receives more nutrition than what is “natural”. This abundance occurs due to emissions from agriculture, traffic and industry. Agriculture, in particular, is responsible for the overfertilization…
Offsetting, or more precisely carbon offsetting, is a way to neutralise your carbon footprint by reducing emissions elsewhere on the planet. You can offset your emissions by supporting projects that remove…
Ocean storage refers to storing CO2 in the oceans. Some scientists advocate for this in, for example, the IPCC reports on climate change. It works by injecting CO2 into the…
P
The extraction of precious metals is harmful to the environment. The most common metals are gold, silver and platinum. Today, these metals are an essential part of most products, for…
Plastic and emissions – plastic is everywhere in today’s modern society. It gets used in most manufacturing sectors. Typical uses are for bags, bottles and textiles. It also gets used…
The Paris Rulebook is a set of rules that aims to enable the Paris Agreementfrom 2015. The latter is an agreement among the UNFCCCnations to make a collective response to climate change.…
The Paris Agreement is the world’s most significant agreement to fight climate change. It was the result of the COP21 in Paris 2015. Above all, the international goal is to keep global warming…
Q
QELRO stands for Quantified Emission Limitation and Reduction Obligations. It is a short document that is part of the Kyoto Protocol. The paper ensured that nations would lower their emissions. The…
R
Renewable energy is an energy source that does not run out. For example, energy from the sun, wind, water and waves. In other words, solar energy, wind power, hydroelectric power…
S
The most famous definition of sustainable development is a “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. In other words, a development…
Solar energy is a renewable energy source that captures the heat from the sun. There are three primary technologies to do this. The most common is solar panels. But there…
Shrimps and the environment – the industry of fishing and/or growing shrimp harms the environment. Some researchers even state that shrimp has a higher carbon footprint than red meat. The…
“Sharing economy” is an economic model based on sharing, rather than everyone owning everything they need privately. It works by renting, lending, exchanging and sharing items among people. For example,…
Sequestering, or carbon sequestering, refers to capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it. It is common to hear about it when talking about climate change. There is a great…
The SDGs stand for the Sustainable Development Goals. They are part of Agenda 2030, an international development agenda by the UN. The focus of the SDGs is on global sustainable development.…
T
The two-degree target aims to limit global warming to below 2 degrees. The ambition got introduced at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico. However, it is most famous as a part of the Paris…
Tree-planting, meaning the act of planting a tree, is a popular way to climate compensate. Trees can bind CO2, one of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. Tree…
Tipping point meaning – It is common to hear about tipping points in the current climate change debate. These are like limits to a system, such as the ecosystem of the…
U
UNFCCC stands for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is the most important international agreement that targets climate change, founded in 1992. Today the abbreviation usually refers to the UN…
V
To be a vegetarian usually refers to someone who does not eat meat, fish or poultry (birds). It is a choice that is generally related to the care of animals.…
Being vegan means having a plant-based diet. It excludes all types of animal products. It can be seen as an extension of a vegetarian diet, as vegetarians do not eat…
W
WWF stands for World Wildlife Fund and has the symbol of a panda. It is one of the world's leading conservation organisations, with projects in over 100 countries. It is a…
World Resources Institute, WRI, is a think tank from the United States. It works for a better future with sustainable use of the Earth’s natural resources. For example, WRI is…
Wind power is a renewable energy source. It uses the power of the wind to produce green electricity. Wind power, or wind turbines, are usually built of turbines with three…
X
Xenobiotics are chemical substances that are foreign to animal life. In other words, it refers to non-organic chemical substances. Environmental pollutants, drugs and industrial chemicals are such examples. These substances…
Y
What is the Younger Dryas? It is a cold epoch during the last ice age, about 12 800 – 11 700 years ago. This period shows what can happen with climate change and…
Z
Zero waste is a sustainability concept that aims to lower or eliminate waste. It can refer to a person's lifestyle or a company's strategy. The idea has six principles: Rethink…
