Your cheat-sheat to all carbon credit generation related definitions
Carbon credit generation might be a new thing of its own kind, but that doesn’t mean it has to be exclusive. We want you to be able to understand everything we talk about here in the site. So we collected the most important terms in this glossary.
Please suggest any missing definitions at info@mitigia.com !
Glossary
ABC
carbon credit - A carbon credit is a carbon market allowance that certifies the avoidance, sequestration or removal of one tonne of carbon dioxide or equivalent other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. One carbon credit offsets the emission of one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas.
carbon quota - Pollution permit. A carbon quota is the amount of CO2 a company, factory, plant or power plant can emit in a year. If they emit more than this, they have to buy the necessary quota from another company on the quota market. Whichever company used less than its quota can sell the surplus on the ETS quota market. It is limited in quantity and expected to be gradually reduced to zero in the EU by 2050.
carbon footprint - The amount of carbon dioxide deposited into the environment to produce a given product or service.
carbon gain – In case of green investments, there is a measurable amount of avoided carbon emissions. This is the carbon gain, and it is expressed in grams of CO2e.
carbon neutrality - Carbon neutrality is the balance between the amount of carbon dioxide emitted, the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere and the amount of carbon dioxide stored in carbon sinks. Ecosystems know this by default. Carbon dioxide emissions are unavoidable from human activities. Greenhouse carbon emissions must be offset by carbon sequestration or even carbon offsetting through carbon credits. Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. The process of carbon sequestration occurs naturally over millions of years, the removal of modern-day CO2 pollution can and must be achieved by other methods due to time constraints. Companies - and all entities - must necessarily address their own carbon neutrality, with a carbon strategy and operational plan.
CO2e - carbon dioxide equivalent, a measure of the carbon footprint. The carbon dioxide equivalent is the unit by which different greenhouse gases can be compared to one unit of CO2. To calculate CO2e emissions, the emissions of a given gas are multiplied by its global warming potential over 100 years.
DEF
decarbonisation - reduction of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. It comes from the Latin prefix de- (=to, back) and the word carbo (=carbon), so it literally means "to decarbonise".
ESG - An environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework is used to assess an organisation's business practices and performance on a range of sustainability and ethical issues.
ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) - Standards that set the rules for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). They set out the structure and disclosure requirements that companies, banks and insurance companies within their scope must report on.
ETS - The EU ETS is a cornerstone of the EU's policy to combat climate change and the most important tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. It is the world's first and currently the largest carbon market.
GHI
JKL
GHG - Greenhouse Gas - once in the atmosphere, GHGs behave in a similar way to greenhouse gases: they absorb sunlight reflected from the Earth's surface and its long-wave spectrum, trapping it and preventing it from escaping into space. The resulting greenhouse effect is what allows the Earth to stay at a consistently warm temperature, ensuring that life on the planet can develop and survive. Many greenhouse gases are also naturally present in the atmosphere. However, human activity is a significant contributor to GHGs, which increases the greenhouse effect and thus contributes to global warming.
greenwashing - The untruthful greenwashing of products and services to make them appear environmentally friendly. Corporate window dressing without any actual physical emission reductions or green transition behind it.
MNO
MRV (Measured, Reported and Verified) - the process of quantifying and confirming the results of a carbon credit origination project (technology swap), ensuring the data integrity of the system and which is a protocol that is essential for quality carbon credit issuance.
net zero - net zero emissions are when a country (city, company, building, vehicle, etc.) emits as much greenhouse gas as it can absorb or offset through carbon offsetting (not the same as zero emissions, which is a more stringent category and means that the entity has no emissions at all).
PQR
STU
QTCS (Quality Technology Change Standard) - the set of standards chosen to originate carbon credits for mitigia’s decarbonisation platform.
Registry - Carbon credit registry, official actor in the Voluntary Carbon Market. Registries develop standardised protocols for registering green projects that originate carbon credits, monitor the eligibility for carbon credit (VCUs) issuance, track the VCUs available on the market and ensure that credits are not sold more than once.
VWX
YZ
vehicle electrification - A change in transport technology whereby the owner of an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle replaces the vehicle they have been using with a battery electric vehicle (BEV) and drives it from then on. Narrowly interpreted: mild hybrid (MHEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles are considered as internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. In other words, the case of a technology swap to such vehicles does not fall within the definition of electrification for the purposes of carbon credit origination. However, the switch from these to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is considered as a technology swap for carbon credit origination purposes.
Voluntary Carbon Market - (VCM) Voluntary Carbon Credits trading platform. It allows individuals, companies, and organisations to offset their excess emissions by purchasing carbon credits from green projects that have achieved real emission savings. It also provides the opportunity for individuals, companies, and organisations to register their voluntary carbon credits from green projects that result in excess emissions avoidance and thus create a carbon credit offer for the VCM carbon market.
VCC (Voluntary Carbon Credit) - a voluntary carbon market emission unit that certifies that one tonne of carbon dioxide or equivalent other greenhouse gas emissions are avoided or sequestered from the atmosphere. (Karbon ellentételezés, dátum nélk.) Legally a right with an asset value, physically "a line" in a digital ledger, in practice a financial instrument with an existing value, a product that can be traded on the VCM market.
VCC emissions - a carbon credit is originated when an entity makes a green investment. If the investment results in a physically measurable, certifiable reduction in GHG emissions, the amount of this reduction is calculated by a specialised organisation and verified by an independent professional body, the Verifier. On the basis of the documentation, the credit holder registers the green investment project on which the carbon credits are based with a dedicated professional body, the Verifier. The Registry reviews the project documentation, verifies the generation calculations and the implementation of the project itself. If it finds no problems, it recognises the project and thus the carbon credits "generated" in the past and registers the credits in the project register.
VCU (Voluntary Carbon Unit) - The name of a verified carbon unit. VCUs are registered by the Registry and, on demand, when someone buys a carbon credit, the VCU is sold by converting it into a carbon credit.
Verifier - the Verifier is the independent professional body that verifies and documents in a report that the carbon credits are the result of a green investment that results in physically measurable, certifiable GHG emission reductions. It ensures compliance with the MRV and CCP methodology, guarantees the regularity of the origination of carbon credits and thus certifies the quality of the carbon credits.