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Removal Units
A Removal Unit (RMU) is a tradable carbon credit or 'Kyoto unit' representing an allowance to emit one tonne of greenhouse gases absorbed by a removal or carbon sink activity in an Annex I country. Removal Units are generated and issued by Kyoto Protocol Annex I Parties for carbon absorption by land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) activities such as reforestation. Application Under Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol, Annex I Parties can recognise the biosequestration, the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by carbon sinks, created by direct human-induced afforestation, reforestation and deforestation since 1990, in determining whether they have met their emission reduction commitments under the Protocol. When sinks have resulted in the net removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, Annex I Parties can issue removal units (RMUs). See also *Emissions trading * Flexible mechanisms * Assigned amount units *Certified Emission Reduction *Emission Reduction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbon Credit
A carbon credit is a generic term for any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit a set amount of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas (tCO2e). Carbon credits and carbon markets are a component of national and international attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). One carbon credit is equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide, or in some markets, carbon dioxide equivalent gases. Carbon trading is an application of an emissions trading approach. Greenhouse gas emissions are capped and then markets are used to allocate the emissions among the group of regulated sources. The goal is to allow market mechanisms to drive industrial and commercial processes in the direction of low emissions or less carbon intensive approaches than those used when there is no cost to emitting carbon dioxide and other GHGs into the atmosphere. Since GHG mitigation projects generate credits, this approach can be used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United States customary units), and the long ton ( British imperial units). It is equivalent to approximately 2204.6 pounds, 1.102 short tons, and 0.984 long tons. The official SI unit is the megagram (symbol: Mg), a less common way to express the same mass. Symbol and abbreviations The BIPM symbol for the tonne is t, adopted at the same time as the unit in 1879.Table 6 . BIPM. Retrieved on 2011-07-10. Its use is also official for the metric ton in the United States, having been adopted by the United States |
Carbon Sink
A carbon sink is anything, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby removes carbon dioxide () from the atmosphere. Globally, the two most important carbon sinks are vegetation and the ocean. Public awareness of the significance of sinks has grown since passage of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which promotes their use as a form of carbon offset. There are also different strategies used to enhance this process. Soil is an important carbon storage medium. Much of the organic carbon retained in the soil of agricultural areas has been depleted due to intensive farming. " Blue carbon" designates carbon that is fixed via the ocean ecosystems. Mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses make up a majority of ocean plant life and store large quantities of carbon. Many efforts are being made to enhance natural sequestration in soils and the oceans. In addition, a range of artificial sequestration initiatives a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It was signed by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992. Its original secretariat was in Geneva but relocated to Bonn in 1996. It entered into force on 21 March 1994. The treaty called for ongoing scientific research and regular meetings, negotiations, and future policy agreements designed to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. The Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 and ran from 2005 to 2020, was the first implementation of measures under the UNFCCC. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that (part one) global warming is occurring and (part two) that human-made CO2 emissions are driving it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There were 192 parties (Canada withdrew from the protocol, effective December 2012) to the Protocol in 2020. The Kyoto Protocol implemented the objective of the UNFCCC to reduce the onset of global warming by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to "a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" (Article 2). The Kyoto Protocol applied to the seven greenhouse gases listed in Annex A: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Land Use, Land-use Change, And Forestry
Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF), also referred to as Forestry and other land use (FOLU), is defined by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat as a "greenhouse gas inventory sector that covers emissions and removals of greenhouse gases resulting from direct human-induced land use such as settlements and commercial uses, land-use change, and forestry activities." LULUCF has impacts on the global carbon cycle and as such, these activities can add or remove carbon dioxide (or, more generally, carbon) from the atmosphere, influencing climate. LULUCF has been the subject of two major reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), but is difficult to measure. Additionally, land use is of critical importance for biodiversity.Towards Sustainable Land Use: Aligning Biodiversity, Climate and Food Policies. (2020). France: OECD Publishing. Climate impacts Land-use change can be a factor in CO2 (carbon dioxide) atmospheric concentration, and is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biosequestration
Biosequestration or biological sequestration is the capture and storage of the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by continual or enhanced biological processes. This form of carbon sequestration occurs through increased rates of photosynthesis via land-use practices such as reforestation, sustainable forest management, and genetic engineering. Methods and practices exist to enhance soil carbon sequestration in both sectors of agriculture and forestry. Additionally, in the context of industrial energy production, strategies such as Bio-energy with Carbon Capture and Storage to absorb carbon dioxide emissions from coal, petroleum, or natural gas-fired electricity generation can utilize an alternative of algal bio sequestration (see algae bioreactor). Biosequestration as a natural process has occurred in the past, and was responsible for the formation of the extensive coal and oil deposits which are now being burned. It is a key policy concept in the climate change mitiga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emissions Trading
Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission trading for and other greenhouse gases has been introduced in China, the European Union and other countries as a key tool for climate change mitigation. Other schemes include sulfur dioxide and other pollutants. In an emissions trading scheme, a central authority or governmental body allocates or sells a limited number (a "cap") of permits that allow a discharge of a specific quantity of a specific pollutant over a set time period. Polluters are required to hold permits in amount equal to their emissions. Polluters that want to increase their emissions must buy permits from others willing to sell them. Emissions trading is a type of flexible environmental regulation that allows organizations and markets to decide how best to meet polic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flexible Mechanisms
Flexible mechanisms, also sometimes known as Flexibility Mechanisms or Kyoto Mechanisms, refers to emissions trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation. These are mechanisms defined under the Kyoto Protocol intended to lower the overall costs of achieving its emissions targets. These mechanisms enable Parties to achieve emission reductions or to remove carbon from the atmosphere cost-effectively in other countries. While the cost of limiting emissions varies considerably from region to region, the benefit for the atmosphere is in principle the same, wherever the action is taken. Much of the negotiations on the mechanisms has been concerned with ensuring their integrity. There was concern that the mechanisms do not confer a "right to emit" on Annex 1 Parties or lead to exchanges of fictitious credits which would undermine the Protocol's environmental goals. The negotiators of the Protocol and the Marrakesh Accords therefore sought to design a system that fulf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assigned Amount Units
An assigned amount unit is a tradable "Kyoto unit" or "carbon credit" representing an allowance to emit greenhouse gases comprising "one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, calculated using global warming potentials". Assigned amount units are issued up to the level of initial "assigned amount" of an Annex 1 Party to the Kyoto Protocol. The "assigned amounts" are the Kyoto Protocol Annex B emission targets (or "quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives") expressed as levels of allowed emissions over the 2008–2012 commitment period. Application Article 17 of the Kyoto Protocol allows emissions trading between Annex B Parties (countries). Parties that have "assigned amount units" to spare because of reductions in emissions below their Kyoto commitment set out in Article 3 and Annex B may sell those units to countries that have emissions exceeding their targets. Article 17 also requires that any such emissions trading shall be supplemental to domestic action ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Certified Emission Reduction
Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) are a type of emissions unit (or carbon credits) issued by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board for emission reductions achieved by CDM projects and verified by a DOE (Designated Operational Entity) under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol. CERs can be used by Annex 1 countries in order to comply with their emission limitation targets or by operators of installations covered by the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) in order to comply with their obligations to surrender EU Allowances, CERs or Emission Reduction Units (ERUs) for the emissions of their installations. CERs can be held by governmental and private entities on electronic accounts with the UN. CERs can be purchased from the primary market (purchased from an original party that makes the reduction) or secondary market (resold from a marketplace). At present, most of the approved CERs are recorded in CDM Registry accounts only. It is only when the CE ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emission Reduction Unit
The emission reduction unit (ERU) is an emissions unit issued under a Joint Implementation project in terms of the Kyoto Protocol. An ERU represents a reduction of greenhouse gases under the Joint Implementation mechanism, where it represents one tonne of equivalent reduced. Description To allow comparison between the different effects of gases on the environment, scientists have defined multipliers for gases that compare their greenhouse potency (global warming potential) relative to that of carbon dioxide. One example of a Joint Implementation project resulting in an emission reduction unit, is the production of biogases by landfill sites. These gases consist of mainly methane which escapes to the atmosphere if it is not collected. The main reason for dealing with methane is that it has a 100-year global warming potential multiplier of 25 compared to carbon dioxide (i.e. has 25 times the greenhouse potency). Collection of methane is usually accompanied by its combustion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
