Unlocking Key Terms

Fossil fuels where the greenhouse gas emissions from their use have been significantly reduced through interventions, typically Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The effectiveness of abatement is a subject of ongoing debate and depends on the capture rate and the long-term storage permanence. It’s important to note that this term primarily addresses emissions from combustion, not necessarily the full life cycle of the fossil fuel, which includes extraction and processing.

Adaptation is the process of adjusting to the impacts of climate change. It encompasses a range of strategies aimed at building resilience, reducing vulnerabilities and safeguarding the well-being of human and natural systems. These strategies are context-specific so they will differ across sectors and regions. From designing resilient infrastructure to implementing sustainable agriculture practices, adaptation strategies involve a combination of physical, technological and institutional measures that are tailored to local needs.

Types of Adaptation:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) distinguishes various types of adaptation:

• Anticipatory Adaptation: Adaptation that takes place before impacts of climate change are observed. Also referred to as proactive adaptation
• Autonomous Adaptation: Adaptation that does not constitute a conscious response to climatic stimuli but is triggered by ecological changes in natural systems and by market or welfare changes in human systems. Also referred to as spontaneous adaptation
• Planned Adaptation: Adaptation that is the result of a deliberate policy decision, based on an awareness that conditions have changed or are about to change and that action is required to return to, maintain, or achieve a desired state
• Private Adaptation: Adaptation that is initiated and implemented by individuals, households or private companies. Private adaptation is usually in the actor’s rational self-interest
• Public Adaptation: Adaptation that is initiated and implemented by governments at all levels. Public adaptation is usually directed at collective needs
• Reactive Adaptation: Adaptation that takes place after impacts of climate change have been observed.

The ability of systems, organisations and living organisms to adapt to threats or take advantage of opportunities.

Additionality means net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings or storage benefits over and above those that would have happened anyway (i.e. in the absence of a given activity or project). The term is often used in the context of carbon offsets, where a credit can offer no additionality. For example, a carbon offset project protecting an area of forest that was never under threat, or a renewable energy project that has already secured full funding, offer no additionality.

The establishment of forests on land that historically has not contained forests. As opposed to reforestation, which is replanting trees in an area that has historically contained forests.

The term used by the IPCC to describe the wider land use sector. AFOLU groups together Agriculture and LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry), which were previously treated separately.

A large system of Atlantic Ocean currents, also known as the Gulf Stream System, that circulates deep, cold water southward and warm surface water northward. The AMOC is a critical modulator of global climate and weather patterns. Recent scientific studies have shown a significant weakening of the AMOC due to climate change, which could lead to more extreme weather events in Europe, sea-level rise on the US East Coast, and a potential disruption of global climate systems.

The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch that would succeed the Holocene—the current official epoch recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. It is intended to highlight the profound impact of human activity, elevating it to the level of major natural geophysical forces. The exact beginning of the Anthropocene remains a topic of ongoing scientific debate, but the most widely supported marker is the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945, which left a lasting record of radioactive isotopes in the atmosphere and lithosphere that persists to this day.

Describes any effect, like pollution or emissions, that is caused directly by human activity.

Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is a key provision on carbon markets. It allows countries to cooperate voluntarily to achieve the emission reduction targets in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through the transfer of carbon credits. Article 6 includes two market mechanisms and one non-market mechanism:

• Article 6.2: Enables countries to trade carbon credits bilaterally or multilaterally to meet NDC targets. Credits transferred under this mechanism are called Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes (ITMOs) and must follow rules that prevent double counting.
• Article 6.4: Establishes a UN-supervised mechanism that issues carbon credits, known as Article 6.4 Emission Reductions (A6.4ERs). Projects must be approved by both the host country and the Supervisory Body before credits can be issued. This mechanism is designed to support sustainable development and encourage private sector participation. It is intended to replace the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) over time and is sometimes called the Sustainable Development Mechanism (SDM).
• Article 6.8: Provides a framework for cooperation without trading emissions. It covers initiatives such as technology transfer, capacity building, development aid, and policies to reduce emissions.

Climate mitigation strategy where forests that would have been cleared are instead protected, preventing the release of stored carbon. This concept is the basis for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) projects. 

Avoided emissions refer to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions achieved by substituting a high-emission activity with a lower-emission alternative. For instance, a wind farm prevents the emissions that would otherwise result from a fossil fuel power plant. Unlike carbon removals, which physically extract carbon from the atmosphere, avoided emissions do not remove carbon and cannot be used to offset an organization’s direct emissions. They are primarily applied for reporting purposes or within specific carbon market mechanisms.