COP, carbon market, loss and damage: A glossary of climate terms

COP

COP is an international climate meeting organised annually by the United Nations (UN). COP is short for Conference of the Parties. ‘Parties’ is a reference to (now) 198 countries that have joined the international treaty called the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). ‘Parties’ to the treaty have pledged to take voluntary actions to prevent “dangerous anthropogenic [human-caused] interference with the climate system.”

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty that placed obligations on the set of rich and industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by assigned amounts. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, and came into effect in 2005. The treaty formally expired in 2020 and was replaced by the Paris Agreement as the main international treaty for coordinating global action against climate change.

Paris Agreement

Adopted in 2015 at COP21 in Paris, the agreement is aimed to limit rising global average temperature. It’s considered a landmark deal as it legally binds (now) 195 nations, for the first time ever, to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

If you want to read more about the Paris Agreement, click here.

1.5 degree limit

Under the Paris Agreement, the world governments have agreed to keep average global temperature “well below” 2 degree Celsius this century compared to pre-industrial levels. They have also pledged to pursue efforts to limit the rise to 1.5 degree Celsius — an important threshold, crossing which would unleash far more severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.

Glasgow Pact

Reached at the COP26 summit in Scotland’s Glasgow, the pact called for phase down of coal and phase out of fossil fuel. This was the first time that a UN climate agreement explicitly mentioned coal. The pact also marked the resolution of the deadlock over carbon markets.

Carbon markets

Such markets are essentially trading systems in which carbon credits are sold and bought. They allow countries, or industries, to earn carbon credits for the greenhouse gas emission reductions they make in excess of their targets. These carbon credits can be traded to the highest bidder in exchange for money. The buyers of carbon credits can show the emission reductions as their own and use them to meet their reduction targets.

One tradable carbon credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas reduced, sequestered or avoided. Once a credit is used to reduce, sequester, or avoid emissions, it becomes an offset and can no longer be tradable.

Greenhouse gases

The gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are known as greenhouse gases (GHGs). They allow sunlight to pass through the atmosphere, but obstruct the heat the sunlight brings from leaving. The main source of GHGs is the burning of fossil fuels like coal, diesel, gasoline or petrol, kerosene and natural gas. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are among the most prominent GHGs.

Net-zero

Also referred to as carbon-neutrality, net-zero doesn’t mean that a country would reduce its emissions to zero. Rather, it is a state in which a country’s emissions entering the environment are equal to the greenhouse gases being removed from the atmosphere. The removal can be done by creating more carbon sinks such as forests or by implementing futuristic technologies such as carbon dioxide removal (CDR).

In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) marked 2050 as the deadline by which the world must reach net zero if it wants to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS)

CCS is basically a process that captures carbon dioxide and traps it beneath the earth. It’s usually used at fossil fuel plants and factories, where it prevents the gas from escaping into the atmosphere. Notably, CCS is different from carbon dioxide removal (CDR), which involves sucking out carbon from the atmosphere.

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)

CCUS goes a step further than CCS and uses the captured carbon in the production of goods such as alcohols, biofuels, plastics or concrete.

Geo-engineering

It is the deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to tackle climate change. There are numerous proposed geo-engineering techniques, including CDR. Their effectiveness and potential side effects, however, remain widely debated.

IPCC

The IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). IPCC’s main activity is to prepare Assessment Reports, special reports, and methodology reports assessing the state of knowledge of climate change.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)

The Paris Agreement requires each country to prepare an outline for their efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. These commitments are known as NDCs. They are submitted every five years, and successive NDCs are supposed to be more ambitious than previous ones.

National Adaptation Plans (NAPs)

The NAP helps countries develop plans to respond to climate change’s present and future impacts. They are aimed to reduce vulnerability to the severe effects of climate change and strengthen adaptive capacity and resilience. NAPs also play an essential role in updating and improving the adaptation elements of the NDCs.

Global stocktake

It refers to a five-year review in which countries assess where they are in the fight against climate change, and what needs to be done in the next five years to make this fight more effective and potent. COP28, which will take place from November 30 in Dubai, will witness the presentation of the findings of the first stocktake exercise.

Triple Renewable Energy

In 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published its ‘Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050’ report, which said that if the world needs to meet the net zero goal, it has to commit to tripling global renewable capacity by 2030. If met, this single step could avoid carbon dioxide emissions by seven billion tonnes between now and 2030, the agency said. This would be equal to eliminating all the current carbon dioxide emissions from China’s power sector.

Just transition

The term describes a shift to a low-carbon or net-zero economy without jeopardising the rights of workers and the needs of communities, which could be affected due major changes to industries like fossil fuels.

Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR)

It is a principle of international law which states that different countries have different capabilities and responsibilities to address cross-border environmental problems such as climate change. One example of the CBDR principle is the 1989 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer. It gave a 10-year grace period for ‘developing countries’ to implement the control measures.

Loss and damage

There is no agreed definition of ‘loss and damage’ in the international climate negotiations, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In broad terms, it refers to the unavoidable social and financial impacts caused by extreme weather events.

Last year, at COP27, developing countries managed to get a loss and damage fund established. It is meant to provide financial help to countries struck by climate disasters. It is, however, empty right now.