COP31: COP (“Conference of the Parties”) refers to the parties to the UN Climate Change Convention. They meet every year, and the conference in Antalya, Turkey, is number 31 in the series.
UNFCCC: Often pronounced “U-N-F-triple-C,” this is an abbreviation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which aims to limit global emissions.
IPCC: The UN climate panel (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which compiles the best available science on climate change.
Paris Agreement: A legally binding agreement from 2015 that united the world’s countries in a commitment to tackle global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
NDC: Nationally determined contributions, which describe how different countries will achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
1.5 degrees: Refers to the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees, preferably 1.5 degrees, compared with pre-industrial levels. However, the world has already warmed by 1.2 degrees, and many analysts believe the 1.5-degree target is impossible to achieve.
CBAM: The EU’s carbon dioxide tariff requires importers of steel, cement, aluminium and fertilisers to pay extra if their goods are manufactured in countries with less stringent climate requirements than the EU. Some countries view it as protectionism rather than climate action.
Climate finance: Rich countries will provide $300 billion per year from 2035 to developing countries to help them limit emissions and deal with climate change. The amount is controversial, and many believe it is too low.
Negative emissions: This is not about emissions with a bad attitude, but about absorbing, collecting or otherwise removing carbon dioxide that has already been released into the atmosphere. This can involve reforestation, carbon dioxide storage from biofuels and carbon dioxide capture from the air. This is also called negative emissions.
Net zero emissions: The effort to reduce emissions as much as possible and compensate for what is still emitted with negative emissions.
Anthropogenic emissions: Emissions caused by humans, as opposed to emissions that occur in nature.
Carbon sinks: Something that captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the long term by binding it. Forests, marshes and oceans are examples of carbon sinks.
Carbon markets: Simply put, this involves companies and countries compensating for their emissions by buying emission credits from those who remove or reduce emissions.
Mitigation (mitigation measures): In the context of climate, the English word “mitigation” simply means reducing emissions.
Adaptation: This refers to how countries around the world can adapt to the effects of climate change. This could include developing early warning systems for floods or building barriers to deal with rising sea levels.
Loss and damage: The costs of climate-related damage (such as that caused by storms, floods and fires) and losses for particularly vulnerable countries.
SDGs: The UN’s global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) range from climate targets to gender equality. Member states adopted the goals in 2015 as part of a 15-year action plan, but progress is far too slow.
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