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A jargon buster
Reuters
Posted: Fri, 09 Nov 2007
[miningmx.com] -- NEWS agency Reuters recently compiled a useful short dictionary of jargon you might hear attending meetings regarding climate change. Reuters says what follows is a combination of diplomatese, pundit-speak and techno-talk.
Kyoto: Short for Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, that sets binding targets for emission of greenhouse gases that spur global warming. Under Kyoto, developed countries are to cut their emissions by an average of 5,2% below what they were in 1990.
The United States rejects Kyoto, arguing that it unfairly exempts developing countries such as China and India. Kyoto expires in 2012.
Framework: The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a 1992 agreement that the US and 191 other countries have signed. Like Kyoto, it seeks to keep greenhouse gases from hitting a level that would
interfere with climate but has no legally binding requirements.
Greenhouse gases: Chemicals that trap the sun’s heat near the Earth like a blanket. They include carbon dioxide, which is emitted by humans and all other creatures that breathe air. They’re also emitted by coal-fired power plants and petrol-fuelled vehicles.
They aren’t the most intense greenhouse gas – methane is 10 times more powerful in contributing to global warming – but carbon dioxide from fossil fuel consumption produces 82% of the world’s human-generated greenhouse gases.
Cap and trade: A policy tool that sets limits on harmful emissions, giving allowances to affected industries and countries within those limits – or “caps”. Those with emissions above the cap can trade with those with emissions below it. Also known as emissions trading.
Carbon footprint: A measure of the effect human activities on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases they
produce measured in units of carbon dioxide.
Carbon offsets: Paying to make up for carbon emissions. One example is planting trees or contributing to a wind farm to make up for the carbon dioxide emitted during air or car travel.
UN climate panel: Intergovernmental panel on climate change established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation and the UN Environment Programme, which has produced a series of reports on climate change. Its fourth assessment (released this year) said it’s 90% probable that global warming is occurring and humans contribute to it.
Bali: Indonesian city where scientists and policy makers are scheduled to gather in December to discuss how to cut climate-warming emissions after Kyoto expires in 2012. The aim is to deliver a plan by 2009 so all parties have time to ratify it.
Major economies: The world’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide. They are: the US, China, the 25 countries of the European
Union, Russia, India, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia and SA. – Reuters.
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