| Greenhouse gas (GHG): | A gas which contributes to the greenhouse effect – the process by which heat becomes trapped in the earth’s atmosphere causing climate change. |
| Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol): | The most widely used international methodology for business and government to understand, quantify and manage greenhouse gases. Developed in the late 1990s through a partnership between the WRI and the WBCSD, it provides the accounting framework for nearly every GHG standard and programme in the world, as well as offering developing countries an internationally recognised management tool to allow their companies to compete in the global market place. www.ghgprotocol.org/ |
| Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC): | A group of molecules used to replace the ozone depleting CFC chemicals as refrigerant gases. HFCs are powerful greenhouse gases ranging from 150 to 11,700 times more powerful than CO2. |
| Indirect emission: | A carbon emission which results indirectly from an organisation’s business activity e.g. grid electricity or employee business travel. |
| Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): | A scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Its role is to assess the latest scientific, technological, and socio-economic literature produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of human induced climate change, its impacts, and options for mitigation and adaptation. The findings of the first IPCC report in 1990 played a leading role in the development of the UNFCCC, and their reports continue to play a major role in influencing policy-making. The most recent Assessment Report was published in 2007. http://www.ipcc.ch/ |
| International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA): | Formed by eight of the world’s leading carbon reduction and offset providers, the ICROA was created to build support for standards within the voluntary offset market. http://www.icroa.org/ |
| ISO 14064: | The international standard that provides a framework for organisations to quantify and report on greenhouse gas emissions and removals. http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=38381 |
| Kyoto Protocol: | An international agreement which legally binds 37 industrialised countries and the European Community to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to an average of 5% against 1990 levels over the period 2008-2012. The Protocol places a heavier burden on developed countries than developing due to the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility.’Under the treaty countries must meet their individual targets primarily through national measures, but Kyoto offers three additional market-based mechanisms to help them achieve this. These are: Emissions Trading, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JI). http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php |
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