A
Adaptation
Precautionary and timely measures taken to address existing or potential impacts of the climate disaster
Anthropocene
An academic term that refers to the geological epoch during which human activities have become a “geological force”. Scientists identify…
Artwashing
Using art for reputation laundering. The term refers to laundering the reputation of polluters and others before the public and…
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)
Ocean currents responsible for relatively mild weather in Europe, compared to its latitude, through a long process that circulates warm…
B
Biodiversity Loss
The reduction or extinction of species in a certain habitat. Biodiversity loss poses a great threat to the survival of…
C
Carbon Bombs
Refers to fossil fuel extraction projects (coal mines and oil and gas fields) which generate emissions exceeding a billion tons…
Carbon Budget
The idea behind the carbon budget is that global heating is strongly linked to the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2)…
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
CCS was first commercialized in the 1970s, but it was called “enhanced oil recovery” because oil corporations pumped the captured…
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas found naturally in Earth’s atmosphere. It is also a byproduct of industrial processes…
Carbon Emissions
Usually refers to carbon dioxide (CO2), emitted for example from the combustion of fossil fuels or deforestation. Methane (CH4) emissions…
Carbon Footprint
Experts have pointed out that it was big oil companies who coined “carbon footprint” as a buzzword in the first…
Carbon Handprint
Refers to the great impact a climate activist/well-informed person can create by bringing about structural change or putting a stop…
Carbon Intensive Industry
Industries that generate high levels of CO2 emissions, such as aviation, land transport, the cement industry, the steel industry, etc.
Carbon Neutrality
Anthropogenic activities have led to global warming that is already approaching 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, even temporarily exceeding it…
Carbon Sequestration
Storing carbon dioxide (CO2) in forests, oceans, or underground geological formations to slow down or prevent the buildup of CO2…
Causes of the Climate Disaster
Climate change is associated with increases in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Besides natural variation in Earth’s climate…
Circular Carbon Economy
A framework to manage and reduce carbon emissions that was proposed and promoted by Saudi Arabia when it hosted the…
Circular Economy
An economy where all materials are fully recycled. In our current linear economy (composed of resources, products, and waste), recycling…
Clean Energy
Generally used to refer to renewable energy sources. The nuclear industry sometimes tries to hide behind this term even though…
Climate Change
The most commonly used term to refer to the changes in the climate regionally and globally. It is recommended to…
Climate Circus
A term used by critics of COPs to highlight how little they achieved in terms of protecting the environment after 30…
Climate Crisis
The current moment where we are observing increasingly severe climate impacts and running the risk of catastrophic, irreversible changes in…
Climate Disaster
Due to the severity of the impacts and the resulting emergency situation, it has become paramount to refer to the…
Climate Emergency
The current situation where humans have heated the planet so much that we risk tipping over the climate system into run-away…
Climate Health Risks
Climate health risks are the risks posed by the climate crisis on the health of individuals and populations. Extreme weather…
Climate Impacts
The results and consequences of the climate crisis.
Climate Injustice
Climate disasters impact different peoples differently. The people suffering the most from the impacts of the climate disaster are mostly those…
Climate Justice
A concept in environmental advocacy that highlights how the climate disaster disproportionately impacts vulnerable groups and nations, and calls for ensuring…
Climate Liabilities
The responsibility of polluters for climate damages, which can be measured via the social cost of carbon which has been…
Climate Litigation
Lawsuits aimed at compelling governments to take more effective climate action, making polluters pay for climate impacts, and driving countries…
Climate-Induced Conflict
Conflicts occurring due to the impacts of the climate crisis. As of 2022, over 108 million people have been displaced…
Climate-Induced Migration
Forced displacement due to the impacts of the climate crisis. Every year, over 20 million people migrate because of extreme…
Conference of the Parties (COP)
COP refers to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is normally…
COP28
COP28 will witness the first global stocktake enshrined in the Paris Agreement, which aims to assess the global response to…
D
Deadly Heat
As our planet approaches the 1.5°C and 2°C thresholds, deadly heat is expected to become the new normal. Around 30%…
Death and Damage
Casualties and economic damages due to human made climate change. Measuring the exact deaths and damages projected per fossil fuel…
Debt-for-Climate Swap
A proposal to exempt countries from their debts in exchange for commitments to implement climate policies on the domestic level.
Decarbonization
The economic transition from fossil fuel dependency to zero carbon.
Demand-Side Mitigation
Strategies aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change through avoiding high-carbon lifestyles, shifting to new behaviors, and improving the…
Desertification
The process of land degradation by which fertile lands loses productivity because of droughts, deforestation, human activities, among other reasons.…
Divestment
Selling fossil fuel shares, business interests or investments as a form of activism against fossil fuels.
Drought
An extended period (a season or more) of deficient rainfall resulting in water shortage. Droughts are among the deadliest natural…
E
Energy efficiency
the same amount of light can now be generated with a tenth of the electricity. This is also an example…
Energy Transformation
Refers to the transition from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy sources, while taking into consideration further changes such as addressing…
Energy Transition
Transforming energy systems from depending on fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy. The term often invokes the notion of ‘fuel switching’,…
Extinction
The dying out of a certain species. Human activities and climate change have already caused the extinction of many species.…
F
Faith-Based Climate Action
Advocacy and actions taken by religious leaders, institutions and worshippers to combat the climate disaster. Religious authorities from major world…
False Solutions
Measures, often of technical nature, that have been proposed to deal with the climate crisis, often by fossil fuel corporations…
Fire Storms
A climate phenomenon that coincides with strong fires, where winds and difference in temperatures draw flames to other areas. The…
Flash Floods
Floods caused by rapidly rising water levels, often as a result of short, high-intensity rainstorms or the failure of dams.…
Food Insecurity
Lack of regular access to enough safe, and nutritious food due to unavailability of food and/or lack of resources to…
Fossil Endgame
The last years in the fossil fuel age, which is the stage we are currently living in. The use of…
Fossil Free Zones
Fossil Free Zones are places that have stopped extracting or burning one or more types of fossil fuel, such as…
Fossil Fuel
Refers to energy materials extracted from the earth and used for burning. The three main fossil fuels are oil, fossil…
Fossil Fuel Subsidy
Financial support provided by the government for fossil fuels, which includes support for extraction - such as tax exemptions and…
Fossil Gas
A fossil fuel in gaseous form. The term replaces the deceptive term “natural gas”. Fossil gas consists mostly of methane.…
Fossil Lock-In
When big investments, for example in infrastructures such as power plants or pipelines, create dependencies that result in difficulties to…
Fridays for Future
A global student movement launched by Greta Thunberg in Sweden in 2018. Students skip school on Friday to demand governments…
G
Global Heating
The increase in average global temperatures, which has been primarily driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions since the start of…
Global Stocktake
Article 14 of the Paris Agreement stipulates that the purpose of the GST is to assess the “collective progress” with…
Global Warming
Global warming happens via the greenhouse gas effect, which occurs naturally when certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, called greenhouse…
Green Innovation
Creating new technologies to minimize environmental hazards such as pollution.
Green Living
A lifestyle that aims to create a balance between human activities on the one hand, and preserving biodiversity and earth’s…
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions
Gases that trap infrared rays in the atmosphere, contributing to global heating. Examples include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous…
Greenwashing
A marketing trick corporations and governments resort to in order to convince others that they are environmentally responsible or that…
H
Harvest Mode
A mode of operation of a coal mine or oil and gas field where the remaining fossil fuels are extracted…
Heat Waves
Heat waves are among the deadliest natural hazards. Since 2015, temperatures have been the highest on record, meaning that the…
High-Carbon Lifestyle
Refers to consumers’ way of life in the fossil fuel age, based on pervasive fossil fuel use and causing large…
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is usually separated from methane or water. Different ways of producing hydrogen are often referred to by various colors.…
I
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to…
Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)
A mechanism that allows investors to sue governments for decisions that harm the profits of foreign direct investment. While not…
K
Keep it in the Ground (KING) Movement
A growing movement of organizations and people advocating against fossil fuel projects for climate reasons.
L
Last Chance Tourism
Visiting places of rich biodiversity that are facing extinction because of the climate crisis.
Loss and Damage
Loss and damage refers to the unavoidable impacts of global heating that are beyond countries’ adaptation capabilities, including extreme weather…
Low Carbon
A term promoted by fossil fuel corporations to convince people that it’s impossible to reach zero carbon emissions, while in fact…
M
Methane Emissions
Methane (CH4) is the main component of fossil gas, making up 96% of its composition. It is also emitted from…
Mitigation
The efforts to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation measures include reducing emissions on the demand side through energy-efficiency…
N
Net-Zero
Balancing the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions of a certain entity with an equal amount removed. This is ideally…
O
Offsetting
Compensating carbon dioxide/ greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in a certain place by removing equal amounts of emissions from…
P
Paris Agreement
An agreement reached at COP21 in Paris in 2015 with a set of targets, most notably keeping global heating at 1.5…
Paris Targets: 2° and 1.5° Target
Keeping the global mean temperature below 1.5 °C or 2°C heating compared to pre-industrial levels. Temperatures are expected to be…
Permafrost
Permafrost is frozen land to the North of Asia, North America and Europe. It is currently melting, releasing huge amounts…
ppm CO2
Parts per million (ppm) is how the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is quantified. While this concentration was…
R
Real Climate Solutions
These solutions are described as game changers because they have the potential to completely alter the trajectory of our world…
Renewable Energy
Solar, wind, hydropower, tidal, geothermal, and biomass energy.
Run-Away Climate Change
Run-away climate change is already possible under current levels of global warming. However, beyond certain tipping points, namely the 1.5-2°C…
S
Sandstorms / Dust Storms
Sandstorms or dust storms are extreme weather events that occur when strong winds pass over loose sand and soil, often…
Sea Level Rise
The two main reasons for sea level rise are thermal expansion of the ocean (the increase in water volume due…
Short-Lived Climate Pollutant
Materials that act like greenhouse gases but remain in the atmosphere for a short period of time, such as black…
Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)
The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summarizing the available science on climate change. Three working…
Solar Energy
Solar energy is a renewable energy source, mostly obtained by harnessing radiation from the sun through the use of photovoltaic…
Sportswashing
The use of sports by polluters or other entities committing despicable acts to launder their reputation, such as hosting major…
Supply-Side Mitigation
Strategies aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change through reducing extraction of fossil fuels. Examples include removing fossil subsidies and…
Sustainable Land Management
Leveraging the Earth’s resources (soil, water, animals and plants) to produce goods in order to satisfy human needs, while at…
T
Temperature Extremes
Variations in temperature well above or below a given base temperature in a certain region, which encompasses both heat and…
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a treaty signed in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit…
Tipping Points
A tipping point is a critical threshold beyond which a system does not return to its previous state. Such as…
V
Vulnerable Coastal Areas
Coastal areas that are highly vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal erosion. Level of risk can be measured using…
W
Water Scarcity
Water scarcity refers to the lack of access to sufficient water in a certain region for several reasons, including poor…
Z
Zero Carbon
Activities or technologies that do not emit CO2, such as renewable energy sources. The nuclear industry sometimes hides behind this…
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