Global Warming: What You Need to Know

Public Opinion

Global Warming 101: Glossary of Terms

Acidification – The name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by their uptake of human-generated carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Ocean acidification decreases the availability of calcium carbonate, which is an important chemical building block for corals and other marine life. Over time, this could have major adverse consequences for fishing, tourism, and related economies.

Afforestation – Planting of new forests on lands that have not been recently forested.

Allocation – Refers to the number of permits given to a particular entity under a cap-and-trade system. The allocation can be distributed at no cost or through an auction.

Alternative energy – Energy derived from nontraditional sources such as natural gas, solar, hydrogen, and wind.

Annex I Countries – Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, these are industrialized countries that pledged to (but did not) reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2000 to 1990 levels. They must produce annual emissions inventories.

Anthropogenic – Refers to anything that is caused by human activity. Most actions against global warming are directed at reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs), as opposed to naturally occurring GHGs.

Baseline emissions – The pollution that would occur without policy intervention. Baseline estimates are needed to determine the effectiveness of emissions reduction programs (often called mitigation strategies).

BAU – “Business as Usual.” Under a business as usual scenario where no special efforts are made to curb greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric CO2 levels will continue their rapid rise, driving global temperatures ever higher.

Berlin Mandate – Negotiated at the first Conference of the Parties (COP 1), in Berlin, Germany, 1995 and set the stage for the creation of the Kyoto Protocol. This Mandate concluded that commitments under UNFCCC were not adequate and that stronger, mandatory, and more detailed commitments were needed.

Biodiesel – Diesel fuel synthesized from any biomass material.

Bioenergy – Energy derived from the sun which is stored in plant material and released when burned in the form of biofuels.

Biofuels – Liquid fuels obtained from biomass. Ethanol is one example, biodiesel another.

Biomass – Any organic matter which is available on a renewable or recurring basis, including trees, plants and associated residues; plant fiber; animal wastes; industrial waste; and the paper component of municipal solid waste.

CAFE – Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard. CAFE limits were instituted to improve the gas mileage of cars and light trucks and thereby reduce energy consumption. They are regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in conjunction with the EPA.

California AB 32 – California Global Warming Solutions Act. Enacted in 2006 to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions.

Cap-and-Trade System – A system that sets a mandatory limit on CO2 emissions, either economy-wide or for a particular sector such as power plants, and provides a market-based mechanism whereby CO2 emitters can buy and sell pollution credits. It works much like the system that has successfully reduced the pollutants that cause acid rain, and if the cap is set tight enough it provides a strong incentive for investment and innovation in emission reduction technologies.

Carbon Dioxide (C02) – A colorless, odorless, nonpoisonous gas that is a product of fossil fuel combustion, and the leading gas responsible for global warming.

Carbon sinks with Land-Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) – A carbon sink is a reservoir that takes in and stores more carbon dioxide than it releases. The UNFCCC defines “sink” as “any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.” The development of policy on “sinks” has evolved to cover emissions and removals of greenhouse gases resulting from direct human-induced land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities and thus, the acronym LULUCF is now used to refer to this sector.

CCS – Carbon capture and storage. The process of capturing carbon dioxide from power plants or other sources and storing it, usually in underground geologic formations. CCS is currently used in the oil and gas industry to increase the output of reserves, a practice referred to as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). CCS technology applied to coal-fired power plants is currently in the demonstration phase.

Cellulosic Ethanol – Ethanol derived from plant material such as switchgrass, cornstalks, or wood chips instead of food-grade grains such as corn. Its production process promises to be much more energy efficient than that for conventional ethanol.

Clean Coal – An industry term broadly applied to a variety of technologies that reduce the CO2 and other dangerous emissions that come from burning coal.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – A modified version of Joint Implementation that assists developing countries in achieving sustainable development, and Annex I parties in meeting their emissions reductions. As the Protocol stands now, developing countries can participate in the CDM and the undertaking of general obligations such as the formulation of national programs, and political as well as scientific cooperation among each other.

Conference of the Parties (COP) – The main negotiating body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); comprised of more than 170 nations that have ratified the Convention. The COP‟s role is to promote and review the implementation of the Convention and to periodically review existing commitments in light of new scientific findings and the effectiveness of climate change programs.

Deforestation – The cutting down and clearing of forest land, and a major contributor to global warming. Once trees are removed they no longer store carbon, resulting in CO2 emissions. Added to this is the additional release of CO2 from the burning or decomposition of the wood.

Emissions Intensity – A measurement of greenhouse gas emissions that reports the amount of emissions per unit of economic output, as opposed to “absolute emissions,” which is a straightforward measurement of emissions quantity, usually in tons. Using emissions intensity as a greenhouse gas measurement can be deceiving because even if intensity remains the same or decreases, absolute emissions can actually rise substantially.

Emission Inventory – A list of air pollutants emitted showing their amounts, time, and source.

Ethanol – In its pure form, ethanol is simply alcohol, derived like liquor from distilling grain or other plant material. For use as a fuel it's generally mixed with gasoline (E-85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline). Currently the main sources of ethanol are corn (in the U.S.) and sugarcane (e.g., in Brazil), but efforts are under way to create commercially viable “cellulosic” ethanol from switchgrass, cornstalks, wood chips, and other biomass sources.

EU ETS – European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. In 2003, the European Union approved the creation of an Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in order to help prepare itself for the mandatory limits on greenhouse gas pollution it has agreed to under the United Nations Kyoto Protocol.

GHG – Greenhouse Gas. GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N20). They occur naturally, but are also emitted when fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, are burned. GHGs trap heat in our atmosphere, and the excess GHGs from human activity are the principal cause of the recent global warming surge.

Global Warming Potential (GWP) – An index that compares the various greenhouse gases by their varying power to accelerate global warming as well as their duration in the atmosphere.

“Grandfathering” – A form of allowance allocation in a cap-and-trade program that gives pollution permits at not cost based on historical emission information.

G-77 – The developing countries bloc, now comprised of over 130 countries.

IGCC – Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle. IGCC is a process that converts fuels such as coal and petroleum into a more environmentally friendly natural gas-type fuel known as “synthesis gas” or “syngas.” When used to fuel a combined gas turbine and steam turbine power plant (known as “combined cycle”), coal-based syngas produces electricity more efficiently and with lower CO2 emissions than traditional direct-fire coal boilers.

Industrial Sector – Construction, manufacturing, agricultural and mining establishments responsible for approximately 32% of the earth's global warming pollution.

IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Established in 1988 by two UN agencies to “assess the risk of human-induced climate change.” The IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report will be released in stages throughout 2007 and will reflect the consensus of more than 2,000 climate scientists from 154 countries.

Joint Implementation – Agreements made between two or more nations to help reduce global warming pollution.

Kyoto Protocol – An international agreement struck by 159 nations attending COP3 held in December of 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. This agreement set legally binding targets to reduce worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases. The United States is the only industrialized nation not currently a party to the protocol.

Methane (CH4) – A greenhouse gas produced through the decomposition of waste in landfills, animal digestion, decomposition of animal wastes, production and distribution of natural gas and petroleum, coal production, and incomplete fossil fuel combustion.

Nitrous Oxide (N20) – A greenhouse gas produced through the use of commercial fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production, and biomass burning.

Non-Annex I Countries – Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, these are countries that have no greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations but may participate in the Clean Development Mechanism. Typically, these are developing nations.

Offsets – Offsets are emission reduction projects undertaken at sources outside a cap-and-trade program. Sources covered by the cap can "offset" their own emissions by purchasing emissions reduction credits generated through projects at facilities not covered by the cap. For example, investing in projects that capture methane from landfills, increase the carbon dioxide absorbed by protecting or planting trees, and implementing energy efficiency technologies can be less expensive to a power plant operator than switching fuels.

Pavley Standards – GHG emission standards for motor vehicles adopted on a state level that are more stringent than the federal EPA requirements. The term refers to the bill first introduced in the California legislature in 2002 by Fran Pavley that specifically targeted global warming emissions from cars and light trucks. California has adopted regulations to implement the Pavley law. To date, sixteen other states have adopted or are in the process of adopting these standards.

Reforestation – Replanting of forests on lands that have recently been harvested.

RGGI – Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. A cooperative effort by Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Participating states are currently developing a regional strategy for cutting emissions, and central to this will be the implementation of a multi-state CO2 cap-and-trade program.

Renewable Energy – A broad category of energy sources that nature can rapidly replace (e.g., corn or switchgrass) or that flow continuously and are not depletable (e.g., wind or solar).

Renewable Energy Standard – A Renewable Energy Standard (RES), also called a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), is a policy that mandates a minimum amount of electricity from renewable sources. An RES can be a federal or state-level policy; in the U.S. there is no federal policy although 26 states have adopted separate standards. Usually, each state has a choice of how to meet this mandate using a combination of renewable energy sources including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, or other renewable sources.

Safety Valve – An optional mechanism in a cap-and-trade program that establishes a ceiling price for pollution allowances, referred to as the safety valve price. If the market price for allowances reaches the safety valve price, the selling authority (for example, the government) would sell an unlimited number of allowances in order to maintain prices at or below this price. Safety valves are often set at low price levels that end up weakening the market for credits and reduce the effectiveness of the emissions cap.

Sequestration – The natural or artificial process of storing carbon. Naturally, carbon sequestration occurs in forests, oceans, and soil as part of the carbon cycle. Sequestration as a global warming mitigation strategy may also refer to artificial capture and storage in the forms of geological or mineral sequestration, which involves injecting captured CO2 underground.

Short Ton – Common measurement for a ton in the United States. A short ton is equal to 2,000 lbs or 0.907 metric tons.

Sulfur Dioxide (S02) – A form of global warming pollution, it results from the combustion of fuels that contain sulfur. SO2 is most prevalent in the combustion of coal.

Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) – A very powerful global warming pollutant used primarily for insulation and current interruption in electrical transmission and distribution systems and in electronics.

UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also shortened to “Framework Convention.” The international treaty unveiled at the Earth Summit in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. The UNFCCC commits signatory countries to stabilize global warming pollution to “levels that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” The UNFCCC also requires that all signatory parties develop and update national inventories of anthropogenic emissions of all greenhouse gases not otherwise controlled by the Montreal Protocol. Of the 155 countries that have ratified this accord, the United States was the first industrialized nation to do so.