Adaptation: refers to actions that help reduce vulnerability to the current or expected impacts of climate change. Examples of adaptation include planting crop varieties that are more resistant to drought or changing conditions, managing land to reduce wildfire risks, building stronger flood defence, relocating infrastructure from coastal areas affected by sea level rise, and developing insurance mechanisms specific to climate-related threats.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS): is a process in which a relatively pure stream of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial sources is separated, treated and transported to a long-term storage location.  For example, the carbon dioxide stream that is to be captured can result from burning fossil fuels or biomass. Usually, the CO2 is captured from large point sources, such as a chemical plant or biomass plant, and then stored in an underground geological formation. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus mitigate climate change.

CO2 can be captured directly from an industrial source, such as a cement kiln, using a variety of technologies; including absorption, adsorption, chemical looping, membrane gas separation or gas hydration. As of 2022, about one-thousandth of global CO2 emissions are captured by CCS, and most projects are for fossil gas processing.  The technology generally has a success rate of between 50 and 68% of captured carbon, but some projects have exceeded 95 per cent efficiency.

Carbon footprint: is a measure of the greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere by a particular person, organisation, product, or activity. A bigger carbon footprint means more emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, and therefore a bigger contribution to the climate crisis. Measuring a person’s or an organisation’s carbon footprint entails looking at both the direct emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels for energy production, heating, and land and air travel, and indirect emissions resulting from the production and disposal of all food, manufactured goods, and services they consume.

Carbon footprints can be reduced by shifting to low-carbon energy sources like wind and solar, improving energy efficiency, strengthening industry policies and regulations, changing purchasing and travel habits, and reducing meat consumption and food waste.

Carbon neutrality: is when anthropogenic (human-caused) CO2 emissions are balanced globally by anthropogenic CO2 removals over a specified period. Climate neutrality: is when anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere are balanced by anthropogenic removals of greenhouse gases over a specified period.

Carbon offsetting (or compensation): allows companies, other organisations as well as individuals to support environmental projects around the world to balance out their own carbon footprints. A carbon offset is a reduction in CO2 emissions or other greenhouse gases (GHGs), or the removal of these gases from the atmosphere, that compensate for emissions caused elsewhere. Carbon emission reduction projects reduce emissions (e.g. wind power projects), and carbon capture projects remove CO2 from the atmosphere (e.g. through reforestation).

Offsets are measured in tonnes of CO2-equivalent (tCO2e), meaning the impact of all GHGs is combined and expressed in CO2. Each tonne of emissions avoided or removed by an offsetting project creates one carbon credit. Carbon credits are traded in numerous ways through the carbon market. While both support the fight against climate change, the voluntary carbon market is separate from official cap and trade emissions trading, in which governmental organisations allocate and sell emission permits.

Climate: is the average of weather patterns in a specific area over a longer period of time, usually 30 or more years, that represents the overall state of the climate system.

Human activity in the industrial age, particularly during the last century, is significantly altering our planet’s climate through the release of harmful greenhouse gases.

Climate change: refers to the long-term changes in the Earth’s climate that are warming the atmosphere, ocean and land. Climate change is affecting the balance of ecosystems that support life and biodiversity, and impacting health. It also causes more extreme weather events, such as more intense and/or frequent hurricanes, floods, heat waves, and droughts, and leads to sea level rise and coastal erosion as a result of ocean warming, melting of glaciers, ad loss of ice sheets.

Climate crisis: refers to the serious problems that are being caused or are likely to be caused by changes in the planet’s climate. Since the 1800s, the Earth’s average temperature has increased by 1.1° C, already causing significant damage in many parts of the world. Scientists expect that an increase beyond 1.5° C would lead to a series of dangerous tipping points that would make many changes irreversible and pose a very serious threat to human civilisation.

Climate feedback loops: happen when one change in the climate triggers further changes, in a chain reaction that reinforces itself as time goes on. Ultimately, feedback loops can trigger tipping points, at which point the changes to our planet’s climate systems become severe and irreversible.

Currently, scientists are aware of some serious feedback loops that are driving global warming. For example, as sea ice in the Arctic melts, more heat is being absorbed by the darker ocean waters, thus speeding up the warming process and leading to more ice melting. Similarly, as wildfires burn down forests, they release greenhouse gases leading to more warming and more wildfires. Other feedback loops include the thawing of the permafrost, forest dieback, and insect outbreaks.

Climate finance: refers to financial resources and instruments that are used to support action on climate change. Climate finance is critical to addressing climate change because of the large-scale investments that are needed to transition to a low-carbon global economy and to help societies build resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change.