A carbon footprint provides a way to compare the greenhouse gas emissions associated with an activity, product, organization, or country. Understanding what the measure includes—and how it is reported—helps people interpret comparisons and identify opportunities to reduce emissions.
A carbon footprint is a calculated measure of greenhouse gases released in connection with a defined activity or system. It can describe, for example, a person's travel, a product, a company, or a country's consumption. The measure makes it possible to compare climate impacts and helps identify where reductions may be most useful.
All flashcards
What is carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)?
A common unit that expresses greenhouse-gas emissions according to their warming effect relative to carbon dioxide over a selected time period.
Why does a footprint’s comparison unit matter?
It identifies what the emissions are measured against, such as a person per year or a kilogram of product.
What does a carbon-footprint boundary specify?
Which sources, gases, activities, or life-cycle stages are included in the calculation.
Why can emissions appear in more than one organization’s accounts?
A supplier’s direct emissions can also be included in a customer’s indirect value-chain emissions.
What is the role of carbon offsets in an emissions-reduction strategy?
Offsets may compensate for emissions elsewhere, but they do not replace reducing emissions at their sources.
Quiz questions
Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which scope covers emissions associated with purchased electricity, heat, steam, or cooling?Answer: Scope 2, covering indirect emissions from purchased energy.
How does production-based national emissions accounting assign emissions?Answer: To the country where the emissions physically occur.
What is carbon leakage in the context of national emissions accounting?Answer: Production moves abroad while emissions embodied in domestic consumption may remain.
What can life-cycle assessment examine beyond greenhouse-gas emissions?Answer: Impacts such as water pollution, ecotoxicity, and resource use.
Why should carbon offsets not substitute for direct emissions reductions?Answer: An offset supports a claimed reduction or removal elsewhere rather than eliminating emissions at their source.
Based on the Wikipedia article Carbon footprint, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.