| Afforestation: | The increase in forested area through the planting of new trees on land not recently forested. |
| Australian Government Department of Climate Change: | Australian Government department responsible for climate change http://www.climatechange.gov.au/ |
| Business As Usual (BAU): | The continuation of the current business situation, assuming no major changes occur to processes or organisational structure. For the purposes of carbon footprinting, the BAU case is used as a baseline against which the impact of carbon reduction activities can be measured. |
| Cap and Trade: | See ‘emissions trading’ |
| (Carbon) abatement: | The reduction in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by a particular activity, through interventions such as technological or process improvements. For example, increasing power plant efficiency means that the same amount of power is produced using less fuel, and therefore producing less greenhouse gas emissions. |
| Carbon accounting: | The process of rigorously measuring an organisation’s carbon emissions regularly over a period of time, to a consistent, repeatable and auditable methodology. |
| Carbon audit: | A third party review of an organisation’s carbon footprint calculation or statement and the methodology and evidence on which it is based, so as to provide an independent opinion on its validity. The term is also sometimes used more loosely to refer to a carbon footprint. |
| Carbon baseline: | When an organisation calculates their carbon footprint for the first time, the measurement can be used as a baseline against which future measurements can be compared. |
| Carbon capture and storage (CCS): | The process of capturing carbon dioxide from the waste gases emitted when fossil fuels are burnt and storing (sequestering) it indefinitely, normally underground in a saline aquifer or depleted oil or gas well. |
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