Data Glossary

Output Results

Common name Definition Source
Inherent risk Background risk due to a particular combination of natural characteristics. Inherent risk does not consider best management practices applied to reduce any potential adverse impacts of the activity. View
Contaminants Includes any substance (including gases, liquids, solids and micro-organisms) or energy (excluding noise) or heat, that either by itself or in combination with the same, similar, or other substances, energy, or heat - (a) when discharged into water, changes or is likely to change the physical, chemical or biological condition of water; or (b) when discharged onto or into land or into air, changes or is likely to change the physical, chemical, or biological condition of the land or air onto or into which it is discharged (s2 RMA). View
Greenhouse gas emission Greenhouse gases are constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and re-emit infrared radiation. Greenhouse gas emissions covered by the emissions limitation or reduction commitment for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). View
Emission unit A tradable unit representing the right to emit one tonne of CO2 equivalent emissions. View
CO2 equivalent The quantity of a given greenhouse gas multiplied by its global warming potential, which equates its global warming impact relative to carbon dioxide (CO2). This is the standard unit for comparing the degree of warming which can be caused by emissions of different greenhouse gases. View
N2O A powerful greenhouse gas with a Global Warming Potential of 298 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2). View
Methane A hydrocarbon that is a greenhouse gas with a Global Warming Potential most recently estimated at 25 times that of carbon dioxide (CO2). View
Biomass Biomass is the quantity of living material of plant or animal origin, present at a given time within a given area. View
Crop Residue Crop residue is plant material remaining after harvesting, including leaves, stalks, roots. View
Carbon intensity Carbon intensity is a measure of how clean our electricity is. It refers to how many grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) are released to produce a kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity. View
Carbon offset Carbon offsetting allows individuals and organisations to invest in projects that remove carbon emissions, in order to balance out the emissions they have created. View
Direct greenhouse gas emission Direct GHG emissions are emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the reporting entity. View
Indirect Emissions Indirect emissions from a building, home or business are those emissions of greenhouse gases that occur as a result of the generation of electricity used in that building. These emissions are called “indirect” because the actual emissions occur at the power plant which generates the electricity, not at the building using the electricity. View
GHG inventory A list of an organisation’s or a country’s greenhouse gas emissions by sources, removals by sinks, and stocks. View
GHG source The source producing greenhouse gas(es) -
GHG sink Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas or aerosol from the atmosphere. View
Biogenic carbon Biogenic carbon emissions are those that originate from biological sources such as plants, trees, and soil. View
Carbon Footprint The total amount of greenhouse gases that are emitted into the atmosphere each year by a person, family, building, organization, or company. View
Global warming potential A factor describing the radiative forcing impact (amount of warming) of one unit of a given greenhouse gas relative to one unit of CO2. View
Emission The intentional and unintentional release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. View
Emission factor An intensity factor relating greenhouse gas emissions per unit of activity (such as tonnes of fuel consumed, tonnes of product produced). View
Carbon metric A carbon metric can be understood as a standard of measurement of GHG emissions. View
Fluorocarbons Carbon-fluorine compounds that often contain other elements such as hydrogen, chlorine, or bromine. Common fluorocarbons include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). View
GHG reservoir GHG Reservoir means a physical unit or component of the biosphere, geosphere, or hydrosphere with the capability to store, accumulate, or release a GHG removed from the atmosphere by a GHG sink or a GHG captured from a GHG emission source. View
Carbon tax A tax applied to CO2-equivalent emissions of certain major greenhouse gases. View
Fossil fuel Coal, natural gas, crude oil and fuels derived from crude oil such as petrol and diesel. They are called fossil fuels because they have been formed over long periods of time from ancient organic matter. They are not renewable. View
Biofuels Gas or liquid fuel made from plant material. Includes wood, wood waste, wood liquors, peat, railroad ties, wood sludge, spent sulfite liquors, agricultural waste, straw, tires, fish oils, tall oil, sludge waste, waste alcohol, municipal solid waste, landfill gases, other waste, and ethanol blended into motor gasoline. View
Carbon cycle The carbon cycle describes how carbon transfers between different reservoirs located on Earth. View
Climate Change Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among others, that occur over several decades or longer. View
Ecosystem An ecosystem is a system in which the interaction between different organisms and their environment generates a cyclic interchange of materials and energy. View
Sulfur Hexafluoride A colorless gas soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water. A very powerful greenhouse gas used primarily in electrical transmission and distribution systems and as a dielectric in electronics. The Global Warming Potential of SF6 is 22,800. View