Emissions abatement means curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to reduce the amount of GHGs contaminating the atmosphere. There are a variety of ways in which abatement can be achieved such as switching to renewable energy sources.

Activity data specifies how many units of a particular product or material that a company has purchased. For example, it could be litres of fuel, kilograms of textile, etc.

These are emissions of greenhouse gases associated with human activities including burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land use changes, livestock etc., that result in a net increase in emissions.

The concentration of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere, a significant driver of global warming.

To encourage carbon abatement activities, the Australian Government provides incentives called Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Eligible Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme projects can earn ACCUs when they reduce or avoid emissions.

Emissions baselines represent the reference point (usually a single year) against which future emissions performance of an organisation will be measured.

Water-based carbon solutions in coastal and marine ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and sea grasses, which absorb a high amount of carbon dioxide in both the plants and sediments.

Carbon accounting, or "greenhouse gas accounting", refers to the systematic methodologies, measurement, and monitoring used to evaluate and quantify how much carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) an entity or activity emits.

Carbon accounting measures emissions of all greenhouse gases and includes CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. Gases other than carbon are expressed in terms of carbon equivalents.

The total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that can be released while still limiting global warming to a specific target, for instance 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Credits from a project after being certified and verified: 1 carbon credit is equivalent to the avoidance or absorption of 1 tCO2e (tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent).

Carbon dioxide (or CO2) is a colourless, odourless gas consisting of one part carbon and two parts oxygen. CO2 is a natural component of our planet's atmosphere and is one of the most common greenhouse gases. It is released through human activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, but also by natural processes.

Because humanity releases more carbon dioxide primarily through burning fossil fuels like coal and oil into the atmosphere than current biological processes can remove, the amount and concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean increases yearly. There are other greenhouse gases beyond carbon dioxide, such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), or fluorinated gases (F-gases).

For any greenhouse gas, the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) is the mass of CO₂ which would warm the earth as much as the mass of that gas. CO₂e provides a common scale for measuring the climate effects of all greenhouse gases.

Carbon emissions –also known as greenhouse gas emissions– release carbon into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities.

A carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere due to the activities of an individual, project, organisation, or nation/state. It is the environmental impact in terms of carbon emissions.

Carbon negative is achieved when an organisation's activities go beyond achieving net-zero carbon emissions to create an environmental benefit by removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

A business is carbon negative (or climate positive) if the net result of its activities is a decrease in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. This is going a step further than net zero.

Carbon neutrality means that any CO2 released into the atmosphere from a company's activities are balanced by the equivalent amount being compensated or removed. Companies can achieve carbon neutrality by purchasing carbon credits to offset their emissions.

Carbon positive, or climate positive, is a term often used by companies to announce that they have moved beyond carbon neutrality by reducing/removing more greenhouse gas emissions than they are generating.

Carbon reduction is the process of reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions a company produces. For example, this can be done by switching to more climate-friendly suppliers or to clean energy providers. Carbon reduction is a crucial step in the journey to net zero.

Carbon dioxide removal (or simply “carbon removal”) aims to help mitigate climate change by removing carbon dioxide pollution directly from the atmosphere. Carbon removal strategies include familiar approaches like growing trees as well as more novel technologies like direct air capture, which scrubs CO2 from the air and sequesters it underground.

Carbon removal is different from carbon capture and storage (CCS), which captures emissions at the source — like from a power plant or a cement producer — and prevents those emissions from entering the atmosphere in the first place. Carbon capture is a form of emissions reduction rather than carbon removal.

Climate Active is the only Australian-Government recognised carbon neutral certification program.

According to the United Nations, climate change refers to the shifts in temperature and weather patterns over an extended period. Some of these shifts may be natural, although, since 1800, human activities have been the main driver of climate change – primarily through burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, which adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and oceans above what a natural cycle can cope with. This, in turn, causes shifts and accelerated changes in the local and global climates.  

As emissions continue to rise, our planet is now 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s on average. Although climate change is equated to warmer temperatures, its consequences go beyond temperatures. Examples of climate change effects are intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, flooding, storms, and a decline in biodiversity.

The fair treatment of all people and the right to be involved in decisions affecting climate change, recognising that its impacts often disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.

A business is climate positive (or carbon negative) if the net result of its activities is a decrease in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. This is going a step further than net zero.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing, securing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The idea is to stabilise carbon in solid and dissolved forms so that it doesn’t cause the atmosphere to warm. The process shows tremendous promise for reducing the human “carbon footprint.” There are two main types of carbon sequestration: biological and geological. 

For example, carbon is sequestered in soil by plants through photosynthesis and can be stored as soil organic carbon (biological) or carbon dioxide is captured from an industrial source, such as steel or cement production, or an energy-related source, such as a power plant or natural gas processing facility and injected into porous rocks for long-term storage (geological).

Once carbon has been removed from the atmosphere see (carbon removal), it needs to be stored somewhere. This storage is called a carbon sink.

A carbon target is a commitment to reduce a company’s greenhouse gas emissions by a specified amount before a given year.

Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) represents a reporting company's direct and indirect carbon dioxide equivalent emissions within a defined time period (usually a single year).

Decarbonisation is the removal or reduction of all human-made carbon emissions into the atmosphere. It is achieved through various measures to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions from an organisation's or individual's activities.   Decarbonisation differs from climate neutrality because it seeks to reduce absolute carbon emissions and intensity. Climate neutrality does not necessarily include decarbonisation actions, as climate neutrality can be achieved by solely purchasing carbon credits. 

Decarbonisation (also known as carbon reduction) lowers the amount of greenhouse gas emissions your company produces. For example, this can be done by switching to more climate-friendly suppliers or to clean energy providers. Decarbonisation is a crucial step in the journey to net zero. 

Direct (greenhouse gas) emissions are released from sources owned, produced, and controlled by a company. They are referred to as "Scope 1 emissions" in the context of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The difference between direct and indirect emissions is that indirect (greenhouse gas) emissions are a consequence of the activities of the reporting organisation but are controlled or produced by another company, for instance, a cloud storage provider or a taxi ride. 

A term describing the situation in which two parties claim the same carbon removals or emission reductions.

Emissions that occur after a company has sold its goods and services. Together with upstream emissions they make up a company’s scope 3 emissions (or supply chain emissions). 

Emissions associated with materials and construction of a building, or product, accounting for the whole lifecycle. Embodied carbon includes emissions created during the manufacturing of materials and transportation to sites.  

Emissions (to air) are defined as all of the gases and substances released into the atmosphere. Since the industrialisation era, human activities have significantly altered the chemical composition of our atmosphere through the release of substances and greenhouse gases. Emissions are measured in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents. 

A measure of the amount of emissions associated with a unit of output. For example, emissions per unit of gross domestic product, electricity production, revenue, full-time equivalent etc. 

The different sources of energy that are used by a country or an organisation. 

The effect of an activity or process on the natural environment, including effects on air, water, land, and ecosystems. 

The equity share approach is the simplest and most straightforward carbon accounting method. Using the equity share approach, a company will account for greenhouse gas emissions from operations according to its share of equity in the operation. For example, if a company owns 18% of a hotel, they will report on 18% of that hotel’s emissions. 

Fugitive emissions are leaks of gases and vapours such as Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC). They are part of a company’s scope 1 emissions.  

The increase in Earth's average surface temperature due to rising levels of greenhouse gases. 

The warming of Earth's surface and lower atmosphere caused by the presence of greenhouse gases which trap heat from the sun

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is a globally recognised standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG Protocol was established in 1990 out of the need for a consistent framework for greenhouse gas reporting. Today, it collaborates with governments, industry associations, NGOs, corporations and other organisations to provide the world's most widely used emission calculation guidelines. 

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are gases in the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect and warm the planet. Carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) are the significant gases driving the atmospheric temperature increase.

Greenwashing is the practice of providing misleading or false information about the sustainability of a company’s business activities. Because companies may not realise that majority of their emissions are in scope 3 or that many carbon offsets are of dubious efficacy, greenwashing can happen unintentionally as well as intentionally. 

The total amount of greenhouse gases emitted without accounting for any offsets or reductions. 

These are emissions which are a consequence of a company's or organisation's activities but are owned or controlled by another entity. Indirect emissions are made up of Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. Examples include but are not limited to purchased electricity (scope 2), waste disposal, and business travel (scope 3).  

A term used for concerns that introducing a carbon-offset project in one region could lead to new emissions happening elsewhere. For example, if a forest protection scheme opens in one patch of the Amazon, deforesters may simply respond by logging another area. 

LCA is a method for evaluating the environmental impact of a commercial product or service through all stages of its life cycle, from cradle (raw material extraction) to grave (final disposal). It is a comprehensive analysis of a product's environmental impacts across its entire life cycle, including resource use, emissions, energy consumption, and waste generation. 

It has a broader focus than Product Carbon Footprint, encompassing various environmental impacts such as water use, air pollution, and land degradation. i.e. LCA is a broader tool that assesses multiple environmental impacts, including but not limited to carbon emissions. For instance, in conducting an LCA for a plastic water bottle, an organisation would consider not only carbon emissions but also factors like water usage in production, plastic pollution, and the impact on ecosystems from waste disposal. 

Actions taken to reduce or prevent the emission of greenhouse gases, aiming to limit the magnitude of future climate change. 

Net-zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere for instance by oceans and forests.  The net-zero process starts with calculating emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3, setting science-based targets, developing decarbonisation pathways, and gradually moving towards long-term carbon capture, storage, and sequestration for those emissions which cannot be reduced. 

The process of reaching net zero. A company’s net zero journey involves first measuring its entire carbon footprint, then reducing every emissions source possible, then compensating the remainder with high-quality climate investment. 

Introduced in Australia in 2007, the scheme provides a single national framework for corporations to report on greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and energy production. Corporations that meet a National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting threshold must register and then report each year. 

Carbon offsets are used by a company or organisation to compensate for what they are emitting and thereby decrease their net emissions. Offsetting involves purchasing carbon credits.

Carbon offset projects allow companies and individuals to invest in quantifiable environmental projects to balance their carbon emissions. Offsetting projects include reforestation, cleaner cooking stoves, and carbon capture. It is part of any corporate sustainability strategy that aims to reach net-zero when it complements a decarbonisation strategy. 

When a company uses the operational control approach, it will report on everything where it or one of its subsidiaries has complete authority to create and apply operating policies. This is the most typical method for establishing boundaries.

If a company or one of its subsidiaries operates a facility, it is assumed that it will have complete ability to propose and apply its operating policies and so maintain operational control. However, it is important to note that having operational control does not imply a company has the authority to make all decisions concerning an operation. For example, big capital investments will likely require the approval of all the partners that have joint financial control. 

Determines the extent of an organisation's greenhouse gas responsibility using two distinct boundary-setting methodologies,

either through the equity share or control approach. 

The total greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product, measured in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), across its entire life cycle. It focuses specifically on carbon emissions and their contribution to climate change. PCF is a component of Life Cycle Assessment, providing a detailed view of a product's contribution to global warming, while LCA offers a more holistic environmental perspective. For instance, calculating the PCF of a smartphone includes emissions from mining raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, use, and disposal, expressed as a total CO2e value. 

These are institutions that track offset projects as they are bought and sold, and also “issue” carbon offsets, meaning they confirm that a number of tonnes of CO2 has been reduced, avoided or removed by a project. The largest registries in the voluntary carbon market is run by Verra, Gold Standard, the American Carbon Registry and the Climate Action Reserve.  

Energy from sources that are naturally replenishing, such as solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energy. 

A framework for reducing emissions at Australia’s largest industrial facilities. It sets legislated limits known as baselines on the greenhouse gas emissions of these facilities. These baselines will decline on a trajectory consistent with achieving Australia’s emission reduction targets. 

Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from company-owned and controlled resources generated while performing its business activities. This includes generation of electricity, manufacture and processing of materials, waste processing, and transportation using the company’s own vehicle fleet. 

Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy from a utility provider. They include all greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling. 

These emissions are a consequence of the company’s business activities but occur from sources the company does not own or control.

Scope 3 emissions include the following: 

· Emissions generated in the company’s supply chain, such as extraction, production, and transportation of purchased materials and fuels.  · Emissions generated from the use of sold products and services. 

· Emissions generated from waste disposal. This includes the disposal of waste generated both in operations and in the production of purchased materials and fuels, as well as disposal of sold products at the end of their life. 

Any process or activity that releases a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. 

The spend-based method of calculating greenhouse gas emissions takes the financial value of a purchased good or service and multiplies it by an emission factor (the amount of emissions produced per financial unit) resulting in an estimate of the emissions produced.  

These are decisions when buying products and services that include social and environmental factors along with pricing and quality. 

Synthetic greenhouse gases are artificial chemicals commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning, fire extinguishing, foam production and in medical aerosols. Synthetic greenhouse gases generally have high global warming potential i.e., when they are released, they trap heat in the atmosphere. 

The Paris Agreement's goal is to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach the global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century. 

An international treaty, adopted in 1992, aimed at achieving the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. 

Upstream emissions occur during the production of goods or services that a business purchases or uses. For example: if your retail business uses plastic to produce its products, the emissions resulting from the production and transportation of that plastic would be upstream emissions. These emissions occur upstream in the company’s supply chain and fall under the scope 3 emissions category, also known as supply chain emissions. 

Value chain emissions, also known as Scope 3 emissions, account for the most significant part of many organisations' total Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF). According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, value chain emissions are divided into 15 different categories, although not every category is relevant to each type of company or organisation. The categories include business travel, waste disposal, and purchased goods and services. 

Value chain emissions occur either upstream (i.e. in the supply chain) or downstream (i.e. during product use and disposal) of the company itself. For many companies, value chain emissions make up 90% of their total emissions, which makes it crucial for these emissions to be taken into account when setting reduction targets. 

A unit corresponding to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions reduced (1 tCO2e), certified and issued under the Verified Carbon Standard. 

The corresponding year in which the emission reductions that a carbon offset represents were created. 

Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER) are emission reductions made voluntarily and not mandated by any regulation or legislation. They usually originate from the will of an organisation to take proactive climate action. The voluntary market functions outside of the compliance market. Businesses, organisations, and individuals that wish to offset with no regulatory obligation can use Voluntary Emission Reductions.  The carbon credits generated under the VER cannot be used in meeting governmental compliance measures as stated by the Kyoto Protocol. 

Zero carbon means a product or service produces no carbon emissions. For example, renewables like wind and solar are referred to as zero carbon, as they do not emit carbon when producing electricity.