Arabic Sustainability Dictionary

Embodied emissions

The emissions released in producing, transporting and disposing of a product, as opposed to the emissions from its use.

Emission factor

A coefficient that converts activity data into greenhouse gas emissions, such as kilograms of CO2e per litre of diesel; it should be recorded with its source and version.

Emissions offsetting

Compensating for emissions by funding or acquiring an equivalent reduction or removal of emissions elsewhere, usually through carbon credits.

Emissions trading system (ETS)

A cap-and-trade scheme in which a government caps total emissions from covered sectors and issues tradable allowances up to that cap.

Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)

The fifth assessment report of the IPCC (2013–2014), whose 100-year global warming potentials are widely used to convert greenhouse gases into CO2e.

Fossil methane

Methane released from fossil sources such as natural gas systems and coal mining; in AR6 it has a slightly higher global warming potential than non-fossil methane because its oxidation adds fossil CO2.

Free allocation

Emission allowances given free of charge to installations under the EU ETS; CBAM obligations are adjusted to reflect the free allocation that EU producers still receive.

Fugitive emissions

Unintentional releases of greenhouse gases from equipment and systems, such as leaks from pipelines, valves and refrigeration units.

Global warming potential (GWP)

A measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps over a set period, usually 100 years, relative to the same mass of carbon dioxide.

Greenhouse gas (GHG)

A gas that absorbs and re-emits infrared radiation in the atmosphere, causing warming; the main ones covered in accounting are CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3.

Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol)

The most widely used set of standards for corporate greenhouse gas accounting, developed by the World Resources Institute and WBCSD, which defines Scopes 1, 2 and 3.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The United Nations body that assesses the science related to climate change and publishes assessment reports used by policymakers worldwide.

Internal carbon price

A monetary value per tonne of CO2e that a company applies internally to investment and operating decisions to reflect climate risks and steer towards low-carbon options.

Linear annual reduction

A reduction expressed as a constant percentage of base-year emissions removed each year between the base year and the target year.

Location-based method

A Scope 2 accounting method that applies the average emission factor of the grid where the electricity is consumed.

Marginal abatement cost curve (MACC)

A chart that ranks emission-reduction measures by their cost per tonne of CO2e abated, together with each measure's abatement potential, so that the lowest-cost reductions appear first.

Market-based method

A Scope 2 accounting method that reflects emissions from the electricity a company has purchased through contractual instruments such as energy attribute certificates and power purchase agreements.

Nationally determined contribution (NDC)

A climate action plan that each party to the Paris Agreement submits and updates every five years, setting out its emission targets and adaptation measures.

Net zero

A state in which an organisation's or country's residual greenhouse gas emissions are balanced by an equivalent amount of permanent removals, after deep emission cuts.

Paris Agreement

The 2015 international treaty under the UNFCCC that aims to hold global warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.

Physical risk

Climate-related risks arising from acute events, such as floods and heatwaves, or chronic shifts, such as rising temperatures and sea levels.

Process emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions released by chemical or physical reactions in industrial processes, such as calcination in cement and lime production, rather than by fuel combustion.

Production route

The specific technology or process used to make a good, such as blast furnace or electric arc furnace for steel, which affects its embedded emissions.

Refrigerant leakage

The unintended release of refrigerant gases, many of which have high global warming potentials, from cooling and air-conditioning equipment; it counts as Scope 1.

Scenario analysis

A process for assessing how a strategy might perform under a range of plausible future conditions, such as different climate warming pathways.

Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

An organisation that sets criteria for science-based emission-reduction targets and validates companies' targets against them, including a minimum annual reduction rate consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C.

Scope 1 emissions

Direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company, such as fuel combustion, industrial processes and refrigerant leaks.

Scope 2 emissions

Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of electricity, steam, heat and cooling that the company purchases and consumes.

Scope 3 emissions

All other indirect greenhouse gas emissions in the company's upstream and downstream value chain, grouped by the GHG Protocol into 15 categories.

Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)

The sixth assessment report of the IPCC (2021–2023), which updated the 100-year global warming potentials, for example 29.8 for fossil methane.