With COP28 now in full swing, and the number of different reports being produced, there are always terms being used that are confusing and easily mis-understood.
Scientists often feel like complex terms are the most concise way to write about their findings, but it can alienate many who want to learn about the climate. Hopefully by breaking them down, you can learn about them below.
The most widely accepted definition is ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.
A slice of pie to represent consumption - we can't be too greedy else others will suffer.
But there are better ways to think about it… imagine you have a big pie. You want to eat some of the pie now, but you also want to save some for later.
Sustainable development means eating some of the pie now, but not so much that there's not enough left for later.
For example, recycling as much plastic waste now will not only keep the planet clean, but not going to general waste will stop it ending up in landfill to be dealt with decades down the line, or finding its way into our ecosystem and potentially washing up after making its way into waterways. If you want to look at this further, I recommend searching up the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Carbon footprint is used to describe an object and the greenhouse gases it produces. The greenhouse gas emissions lead to global warming and are a major contributor to climate change.
The carbon footprint can be seen as a measure of the total amount of these harmful gases that are made from something. It can often be complicated by different units of measurement and different styles of emissions related to companies (scope 1,2 and 3 emissions)! To keep things simple, these should be largely ignored and the main focus being on the actual amount of dangerous pollutants produced.
Read more about Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's carbon footprint.
To simplify this it ultimately means the ability to capture carbon out of the atmosphere.
This can be done via both man-made and natural methods, but it is increasingly talked about with carbon footprints.
Trees storing carbon video (https://youtu.be/vJY3DTaE0sI?si=vkMUGIKGMbyBUtNR)
Source: The Woodland Trust
Natural methods include reforestation - did you know that 213 million tonnes of carbon are stored in living trees in UK woodlands?
Man-made methods include direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS). DACS systems use electricity to remove CO2 from the atmosphere using fans and filters. However this is controversial, as it uses carbon to build the systems to start with!
Like a mug, the Earth's system can only take so much before it spills over, or 'tips', leading to messy consequences!
Tipping points are like the breaking point of a dam, or simply overfilling a mug of tea until it spills over and suddenly your nice clean kitchen becomes messy and chaotic!
Perhaps it spills onto some paperwork, and then onto something electrical - chaos!
They are critical points that once reached will cause widespread problems and extensive damage that cannot be reversed - scientists call these resulting problems 'positive feedback loops'. It ultimately signifies when it is too late to continue, and dramatic change is inevitable.
It is a term that will come up more and more in future years when the impact humans have on the planet will be more evident.
A 1.5 degrees Celsius increase in global temperature is widely seen by scientists as the tipping point for global warming.
Both meaning the same thing, net-zero and carbon neutral means the point when carbon being absorbed is equal to the carbon being emitted.
It should just be seen as creating a balance between your absorption and output of carbon.
Often tied in with being carbon neutral, carbon offsetting is a way of balancing out or compensating for an individual or companies’ emissions.
It can be done through paying for schemes or systems that drawdown carbon, through carbon sequestration.
It is something that will come up more readily in future years as more companies try to limit their carbon emissions. It is also something that should be used as a last resort once all other possible means of reducing emissions are tried.
Mitigation is any attempt to stop or slow down climate change. It can be both the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases or making carbon sequestration methods better.
Climate change adaptation just means changing to live with the effects of our warming planet. This often involves humans and the built environment changing to try and survive more extreme conditions, which will mean that our adaptation will need to get more extreme with time, but current methods include seawalls or using drought resistant crops.
A carbon sink is anything that can draw down carbon and store it for a long time.
Sponges are good at soaking up water, the same way carbon sinks soak up carbon from the atmosphere.
Think of it like a sponge, sucking out carbon from the atmosphere and holding onto it.
These are needed in our fight against climate change and a good example of a carbon sink is the ocean. It can lock away carbon in lots of places for long periods of time, like in seagrass and plankton.
The opposite of a carbon sink, a carbon source is anything that releases carbon into the atmosphere.
It can be human caused, such as fossil fuel burning, or natural through volcanic eruptions.
Increasingly, there are places that have changed from a carbon sink to become a carbon source. For example, the Amazon Rainforest now produces more carbon dioxide than it absorbs due to the forest fires and deforestation that now occurs there.
There are always going to be new and confusing words made to explain ideas about fast-moving topics like climate change. It is never going to help when so many other companies and media also use these terms, sometimes incorrectly, to try and improve their branding. Even so, hopefully, by simplifying these terms, you can learn more and understand all the key talking points that will come out of COP28.
