3. TERMS, DEFINITIONS, AND ACRONYMS

Activity Data - Data on the magnitude of human activity (e.g., land use and land-use changes related to forests) resulting in emissions or removals taking place during a given period.

Additionality - Additionality refers to carbon offset benefits that would not have happened on their own accord, i.e. without the effect of carbon financing.

Afforestation and Reforestation (A/R) - The planting of new forests on lands that historically have not contained green cover. In other words, the process of planting trees on land to create a (new) forest cover that has few or no trees on it.

Baseline Emissions - Baseline emissions are the level of emissions that would occur without policy intervention or the implementation of a project. Beneficiaries Recipients of Monetary and Non-Monetary Benefits identified in the Benefit Sharing Plan. Beneficiaries may include sub-entities and other relevant stakeholders (including, e.g., forest-dependent indigenous peoples and other forest dwellers, affected communities or groups, local civil society organizations, etc.) and may have to be updated from time to time.

Carbon Sink - A natural or manmade reservoir that accumulates and stores carbon dioxide for an indefinite period.

Company, Client, or Organization - A company that has sought to work with this standard could be a net polluter or emitter of greenhouse gases.

CO2 equivalent - CO2 equivalent is a measurement unit that is used to weigh the emissions of different greenhouse gases with different climate-changing effects.

The amount of CO2 equivalent is calculated by multiplying the mass of given greenhouse gas by its “Global Warming Potential” (GWP).

Degradation - Decrease in carbon stocks through selective harvesting or burning.

Direct emissions - Emissions that are generated by sources owned or controlled by the company or entity being studied.

Emission factor - A factor that indicates the kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted per unit of activity.

Emission Reductions, (ER) - The process of emission reduction from natural or humanmade activity. GHG source Any process or activity that releases a GHG into the atmosphere.

Global Warming Potential (GWP) - A factor expressing the contribution to the greenhouse effect of a GHG concerning carbon dioxide (whose reference potential is 1), over a given period.

Greenhouse Gases (GHG) - Gaseous constituents present in the atmosphere retain, inhibit, or block part of the infrared (IR) component of solar radiation that strikes the Earth. The main greenhouse gases are Carbon dioxide (CO2); Methane (CH4); Nitrogen monoxide (NO); Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); Fluorocarbons (PFCs); and Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

Guidance Notes - A guidance note is a document issued by the PCS that provides supplemental advice.

Indirect Emissions - Emissions are a consequence of the operations of the specific company or entity being studied, but they occur from sources owned or controlled by external parties. They include emissions due to activities upstream or downstream of the operations of the company or entity under study.

Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) - Land sector projects seeking to mitigate climate change. International and national LULUCF programs for carbon credit generation remunerate farmers and landowners for carbon credits created through actions such as plantings, savannah fire management, reforestation, afforestation, avoided deforestation, and other land-use change activities.

Offsetting - The action that entirely or partly compensates emissions remained unabated in a company, product, or service value chain, through investments in activities that reduce or remove an equivalent number of emissions and that are developed outside the boundaries of the organization.

Project Proponent/Developer - An organization or individual that develops projects to initiate emission reduction or carbon sequestration processes.

Reforestation - The replanting of forests on lands that have previously contained forests but that have been either eroded or destroyed due to actions of humankind or environmental or natural causes, and typically climate-change based.

Removals - Removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by a carbon sink.

Secondary Forest - A degraded forest is a secondary forest that has been lost through human activities, the structure, function, species composition, or productivity normally associated with a natural forest type expected on that site.

Sequestration - The removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide, either through biological processes (for example, photosynthesis in plants and trees), or geological processes (for example, storage of carbon dioxide in underground reservoirs) could be either triggered by humankind or part of the natural processes of the environment.

Uncertainty - The level of statistical uncertainty related to the estimation of ERs to be generated during the Crediting Period under the ER Program accounts for, among others, errors related to Reference Level estimation and ER measurements.

Validation - Systematic, independent, and documented process for the evaluation of GHG reduction of an ER Program against agreed criteria, to determine if the ER Program conforms to the agreed criteria.

Verification - An independent examination of data monitoring to help establish whether a project’s actual emissions are consistent with Climate Protocols and Obligations.

Verified Emission Reduction (VER) - A unit corresponding to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and issued for verified emission reductions or removals achieved by projects approved authority.