Environmental Terms

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS): The capture and storage of carbon dioxide wherein organic matter is converted into fuel for storage or directly burned to generate energy.

Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS):  Technology that captures, transports, and store carbon dioxide before it is released into the atmosphere.

Carbon Footprint:  Carbon dioxide emissions associate with a person, company, or entity’s activities.

Carbon Neutral:  Achieving parity between carbon emissions and removals, including through the use of carbon offsets.

Carbon Offset: Means of compensating for one’s own emissions by paying for carbon reductions by others.

Carbon Pricing:  Those costs associated with carbon dioxide emissions.

Carbon Sinks:   Natural environments (such as oceans, plants, forests, and soil) that can absorb more carbon dioxide than they release.

Circular Economy:  Reducing waste and pollution by keeping materials in use rather than throwing them away.

Clean Hydrogen: Hydrogen produced with low or zero carbon emissions methods – may include “green hydrogen” (produced using electrolysis to split water molecules using renewable energy), “pink hydrogen” (similar to green hydrogen, but powered by nuclear energy), “blue hydrogen” (generated from natural gas and using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology) to capture CO2 byproduct), “turquoise hydrogen” (similar to blue hydrogen, but generates solid carbon rather than CO2 as a byproduct).

Climate Change:  Long-term changes in global conditions (such as average temperature and rainfall) resulting from the accumulation of greenhouse gases.

Decarbonization:  The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

Direct Air Capture (DAC): The process by which carbon dioxide is extracted directly from the atmosphere (as opposed to CCUS, which takes place at the site of the emmissions).

GHG:  Greenhouse Gas Emissions – including carbon dioxide and methane, which trap heat that the earth would otherwise radiate into space.

Net Zero:  A target to completely negate the amount of human generated greenhouse gases by reducing emissions and/or implementing methods to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Paris Agreement:  An international climate treaty, adopted by nearly 200 countries at the UN Climate Change Conference, whose goal is to limit global warming to well below 2oC (ideally 1.5oC) compared to pre-industrial levels.

Physical Risks:  The consequences of extreme weather conditions that can damage assets and cause other injuries.

Renewables:  Energy sources not depleted by use (e.g., wind, water, and solar power).

Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program:  A US program, created in 2005, that requires a certain amount of petroleum-based transportation fuel to be replaced by renewable fuels.

Scope 1 Emissions:  Direct GHG emissions from sources controlled or owned by the organization. Click here for a link to the EPA’s Scope 1 and 2 Inventory Guidance.

Scope 2 Emissions:  Indirect GHG emissions from the purchase of electricity, heat, cooling, or steam. Click here for a link to the EPA’s Scope 1 and 2 Inventory Guidance.

Scope 3 Emissions:  All other indirect emissions from the company’s value chain (e.g., other purchased goods and services, business travel, leased assets, investments). Click here for a link to the EPA’s Scope 3 Inventory Guidance.

Sustainability:  Meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising future generations’ ability to meet their needs.