Climate and Nature Charter

Net zero

The glossary below will hopefully demystify some of the terminology that you might hear as you delve deeper into the world of reaching net zero.

Carbon (or greenhouse gas) emissions: The emissions into the earths atmosphere of gases which contribute to the greenhouse effect e.g., carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases.

Net Zero: The point at which a country, industry, company, etc. removes as many carbon emissions (gases that cause the earth to warm up) as it produces.

Sustainability

Solar Photovoltaics (or solar panels): A renewable form of energy.

Electric vehicles (EVs): A type of vehicle that runs on electricity, usually one that does not use any other source of power.

Hybrid Vehicle: A vehicle which runs on fossil fuels eg., petrol and one or more electric motors.

Offsetting: To pay for things that will reduce carbon dioxide in order to reduce the damage caused by carbon dioxide that you produce.

Greenwashing: to make people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.