Glossary

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A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z

 

A

Adaptation
In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects (p542, IPCC, 2018).

Aerosols
A suspension of airborne solid or liquid particles, with a typical size between a few nanometres and several tens of micrometres that reside in the troposphere for several days and can reside in the stratosphere for several years. Includes both the particles and the suspending gas. Aerosols may be of either natural or anthropogenic origin in the troposphere. Aerosols may influence climate through interactions that scatter and/or absorb radiation and through interactions with cloud microphysics and other cloud properties, or upon deposition on snow or ice covered surfaces thereby altering their albedo and contributing to climate feedback  (p2216, IPCC, 2021).

Afforestation
Conversion to forest of land that historically has not contained forests (p2217, IPCC, 2021). For a discussion of the term forest, afforestation, reforestation and deforestation, see the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and their 2019 Refinement .

Albedo
The proportion of sunlight (solar radiation) reflected by a surface or object, often expressed as a percentage. The Earth’s planetary albedo varies mainly through varying cloudiness, snow, ice, leaf area and land cover changes. The higher the albedo, the more the proportion of sunlight that is reflected (p2217, IPCC, 2021).

Albedo Modification
An intentional altering of albedo through alterations of surfaces – see Solar Radiation Modification.

Anthropocene
A proposed new geological epoch resulting from significant human-driven changes to the structure and functioning of the Earth System, based on global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biosphere and other earth system processes are now altered by humans (EoE, 2020;p2218, IPCC, 2021).

A

Anthropogenic
Resulting from or produced by human activities (p2218, IPCC, 2021).

Anthropogenic Climate Change
A change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods (UN, 1992).

Anthropogenic Emissions
Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), precursors of GHGs and aerosols caused by human activities. These activities include the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, land use and land use changes, livestock production, fertilisation, waste management, and industrial processes (p2218, IPCC, 2021).

Anthropogenic Removals
The withdrawal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere because of deliberate human activities. These include enhancing biological sinks of carbon dioxide and using chemical engineering to achieve long term removal and storage. Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), which alone does not remove CO2 from the atmosphere, can help reduce atmospheric CO2 from industrial and energy-related sources if it is combined with bioenergy production (BECCS), or if CO2 is captured from the air directly and stored (DACCS) (p2218, IPCC, 2021).

Anticipatory Governance
A broad-based capacity extended through society that can act on a variety of inputs to govern or manage emerging knowledge-based technologies while such management is still possible. Anticipatory governance motivates the building of capacities to respond in conditions of uncertainty or ambiguity (Guston, 2013).

Atmospheric Climate Intervention (ACI)
See Solar Radiation Modification (SRM).

B

 

Biochar
Stable, carbon-rich material produced by heating biomass in an oxygen-limited environment. Biochar may be added to soils to improve soil functions and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from biomass and soils, and for carbon sequestration (p543, IPCC, 2018).

Biodiversity
The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems (p2219, IPCC, 2021).

Bioenergy
Energy derived from any form of biomass or its metabolic by-products (p543, IPCC, 2018).

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)
A carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technique applied to a bioenergy facility. Note that depending on the total emissions of the BECCS supply chain, carbon dioxide can be removed from the atmosphere (p2219, IPCC, 2021).

Biofuel
A fuel, generally in liquid form, produced from biomass. Biofuels currently include bioethanol from sugarcane or maize, biodiesel from canola or soybeans, and black liquor from the paper manufacturing process (p543, IPCC, 2018).

Biological (Carbon) Pump
A series of ocean processes through which inorganic carbon (as carbon dioxide, CO2) is fixed as organic matter by photosynthesis in sunlit surface water and then transported to the ocean interior, and possibly the sediment, resulting in the storage of carbon (p2219, IPCC, 2021).

Blue Carbon
Biologically driven carbon fluxes and storage in marine systems that are amenable to management. Coastal blue carbon focuses on rooted vegetation in the coastal zone, such as tidal marshes, mangroves and seagrasses. They provide many non-climatic benefits and can contribute to ecosystem-based adaptation (p2220, IPCC, 2021).

Building with Biomass
Using forestry materials in building to extend the duration of carbon storage of natural biomass and to enable additional forestry growth (RS/RAE, 2018).

C

Carbon Dioxide (CO)
A naturally occurring gas, CO₂ is also a by-product of burning fossil fuels, of burning biomass, of land use changes and of industrial processes. It is the principal anthropogenic greenhouse gas that affects the Earth’s radiative balance (p2220f., IPCC, 2021).

Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS)
A process in which a relatively pure stream of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from industrial and energy-related sources is separated (captured), conditioned, compressed and transported to a storage location for long-term isolation from the atmosphere (p2221, IPCC, 2021). Also known as Carbon Capture and Storage. CCS is not an approach to altering the climate, it only stops additional new CO₂ from entering the atmosphere. Should not be confused with carbon dioxide removal.

Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilisation (CCU)
A process in which CO2 is captured and then used to produce a new product. If the CO2 is stored in a product for a climate-relevant time horizon, this is referred to as carbon dioxide capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). Only then, and only combined with CO2 recently removed from the atmosphere, can CCUS lead to carbon dioxide removal. CCU is sometimes referred to as carbon dioxide capture and use (p544, IPCC, 2018).

Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS)
See Carbon dioxide capture and utilisation (CCU).

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)
Anthropogenic activities removing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and durably storing it in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products. It includes existing and potential anthropogenic enhancement of biological or geochemical sinks and direct air capture and storage, but excludes natural CO₂ uptake not directly caused by human activities (p2221, IPCC, 2021). CDR is a climate-altering approach that would be used to compensate for residual emissions and, in most cases, achieve net negative emissions to return global warming to 1.5°C following a peak. Also referred to as carbon removal, carbon engineering, carbon drawdown, greenhouse gas removal and negative emissions.

Cirrus Cloud Thinning
One of several radiation modification approaches to counter the warming caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs). In this approach, it is proposed to reduce the amount of cirrus clouds by injecting ice nucleating substances in the upper troposphere. The reduction in cirrus clouds is expected to increase the amount of longwave cooling to space resulting in a planetary cooling. Although cirrus cloud thinning primarily affects the longwave radiation budget of our planet, it is often identified as one of the solar radiation modification (SRM) approaches in the literature (p2249, IPCC, 2021).

Chemtrails
Word creation composed by the words chemicals and contrails to suggest that aircraft vapor condensation trails have been chemically altered. While this conspiracy theory predates popular discussion of SRM, it has in recent years evolved to suggest such activity to be secretly and widely pursued by governments to effect solar radiation modification (SRM) with negative effects on the climate and human health (Tingley and Wagner, 2017).

Climate-Altering Approaches
A collective term to describe intentional interventions into the climate system with the purpose of reducing rates of climate change. Such approaches may be existing or theoretical and include carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation modification.

Climate-Altering Techniques
Specific techniques within carbon dioxide removal, solar radiation modification or other approaches, for example, afforestation, Direct Air Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage or ice restoration with the potential (theoretical or otherwise) to cool the climate.

Climate-Altering Technologies
The application of scientific or engineering knowledge in technologies that help deliver or make climate-altering techniques work.

Climate Change
A change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings from e.g. modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use (p2222, IPCC, 2021).

Climate Engineering
Deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system, in order to moderate global warming. (Shepherd, 2009). Also known as geoengineering. Climate engineering would use climate-altering techniques.

Climate Neutrality
Concept of a state in which human activities result in no net effect on the climate system. Achieving such a state would require balancing of residual emissions with emission (carbon dioxide) removal as well as accounting for regional or local bio-geophysical effects of human activities that, for example, affect surface albedo or local climate (p545, IPCC, 2018).

Climate Repair
The intentional large-scale human interference in the Earth system using climate-altering techniques to reduce CO2 emissions, remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere and refreeze the Arctic (CCRC, 2022).

Climate System
The global system consisting of five major components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere and the interactions between them (p2224, IPCC, 2021).

Code of Conduct for Responsible Geoengineering Research
A code of conduct developed by University of Calgary’s Geoengineering Research Governance Project. It aims to provide practical guidance on the responsible conduct of geoengineering research. A voluntary instrument, based upon existing legal sources, including general principles, rules of customary international law, treaty-based rules, regulations, international decisions, and policy documents (Hubert, 2017).

Conference of the Parties (COP)
The supreme body of United Nations conventions, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, comprising parties with a right to vote that have ratified or acceded to the convention (p546, IPCC, 2018).

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
A convention on the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources (CBD, 1992). A series of CBD Conference of the Parties decisions relating to ‘climate-related geoengineering’ have been taken (CBD, 2012).

Counter Geoengineering
The idea that a country might seek or threaten to counteract the cooling effect of solar radiation modification through technical means. Two types of counter geoengineering may be possible: countervailing with a warming agent and neutralising with a physical disruption (Parker et al., 2018). The possibility of counter geoengineering may have strategic implications (Heyen, Horton and Moreno-Cruz, 2019).

D

Decarbonisation
The process by which countries, individuals or other entities aim to achieve zero fossil carbon existence. Typically refers to a reduction of the carbon emissions associated with electricity, industry and transport (p546, IPCC, 2018).

Deforestation
The conversion of forest to non-forest. For a discussion of the term forest, afforestation, reforestation and deforestation, see the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and their 2019 Refinement.

Deployment
The deliberate use of a climate-altering technique with the intention of affecting a change in the global climate.

Direct Air Capture (DAC)
Chemical process by which a pure carbon dioxide (CO2) stream is produced by capturing CO2 from the ambient air (p2226, IPCC, 2021).

Direct Air Capture and Carbon-Dioxide Storage (DACCS)
Chemical process by which a pure carbon dioxide (CO2) stream is produced by capturing CO2 from the ambient air, with subsequent storage. Also known as direct air capture and storage (DACS) (p547, IPCC, 2018).

Distributive Justice
Justice in the allocation of economic and non-economic costs and benefits across society (of engineered climates for example), seeks to avoid inequalities (p547 & p552, IPCC, 2018).

E

Earth System Model (ESM)
A coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) in which a representation of the carbon cycle is included, allowing for interactive calculation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) or compatible emissions. Additional components (e.g., atmospheric chemistry, ice sheets, dynamic vegetation, nitrogen cycle, but also urban or crop models) may be included (p2226f., IPCC, 2021).

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) with Carbon Dioxide (CO)
The injection of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into oil wells to increase extraction efficiency. The injecting of CO₂ could be considered sequestration. The practice is unlikely to have climate effects. The processing and burning of the extracted oil are likely to produce more emissions than the volume of CO₂ that is sequestered by the EOR in the same space. Further, how the CO₂ is captured or manufactured and transported to the well will have implications for the emission reductions efficiency of the process (Nwidee et al., 2016).

Enhanced Weathering
A proposed method to increase the natural rate of removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere using silicate and carbonate rocks. The active surface area of these minerals is increased by grinding, before they are actively added to soil, beaches or the open ocean (p2228, IPCC, 2021).

Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD)
The Environmental Modification Convention, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD, 1976). Prohibits military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques.

F

Forestation
Growing new trees and improving the management of existing forests. As forests grow they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in living biomass, dead organic matter and soils (RS/RAE, 2018). Includes afforestation and reforestation.

G

Geoengineering
A deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system, to moderate anthropogenic climate change (Shepherd, 2009). Also known as climate engineering. Approaches could in principle include the use of carbon dioxide removal at very large scales and solar radiation modification or other climate-altering techniques.

Geoengineering Governance
The application of the full range of means for deciding, managing, implementing and monitoring policies and measures about geoengineering. See Governance.

Global Thermostat
A metaphor regarding decision making about who, when and how much cooling might be delivered using climate-altering techniques (for a discussion see Rickles et al. (2018)).

Governance
A comprehensive and inclusive concept of the full range of means for deciding, managing, implementing and monitoring policies and measures. Whereas government is defined strictly in terms of the nation-state, the more inclusive concept of governance recognises the contributions of various levels of government (global, international, regional, sub-national and local) and the contributing roles of the private sector, of nongovernmental actors, and of civil society to addressing the many types of issues facing the global community (p550, IPCC, 2018).

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of terrestrial radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect (p2233, IPCC, 2021). Primary GHGs include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone

Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR)
Withdrawal of a greenhouse gas (GHG) and/or its precursor from the atmosphere by a sink (p551, IPCC, 2018). GGR includes natural and engineering techniques that are purposefully deployed to remove GHGs by way of seeking to address a cause of climate change. Carbon dioxide removal is one kind of GGR.

H

Human Rights
Rights that are inherent to all human beings, universal, inalienable, and indivisible, typically expressed and guaranteed by law. They include the right to life; economic, social, and cultural rights; and the right to development and self-determination. Based upon the definition by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCR, 2020).

I

Ice Restoration
A theoretical climate-altering approach that would drive the creation of new ice in cold regions, in particular on ocean surfaces. Techniques suggested in the literature include the use of billions of manufactured reflective floating silica spheres, the creation of micro bubbles, vast reflective rafts of foam, using wind power to cool and spray water in winter and submarines acting as ice factories (Field et al., 2018; Ortega et al., 2018; Desch et al., 2016).

Inter-generational Justice
Balancing the needs of current and future generations. For a discussion of inter-generational justice and solar radiation modification see Burns (2011).

Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs)
Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) integrate knowledge from two or more domains into a single framework. They are one of the main tools for undertaking integrated assessments. IAMs used in respect of climate change mitigation may include representations of multiple sectors of the economy, such as energy, land use and land-use change; interactions between sectors; the economy as a whole; associated greenhouse gas emissions and sinks; and reduced representations of the climate system. This class of model is used to assess linkages between economic, social and technological development and the evolution of the climate system. Another class of IAM additionally includes representations of the costs associated with climate change impacts but includes less detailed representations of economic systems. These can be used to assess impacts and mitigation in a cost–benefit framework and have been used to estimate the social cost of carbon (p2235, IPCC, 2021).

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
An intergovernmental scientific body which provides regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and policy relevant but not prescriptive options for adaptation and mitigation. Created by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1988, the objective of the IPCC is to provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC reports are also a key input into international climate change negotiations (IPCC, 2022).

Iron Fertilisation
See Ocean Fertilisation.

K

Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty adopted in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, at the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC. It contains legally binding commitments, in addition to those non-binding included in the UNFCCC (UN, 1997). Parties to the Protocol agree to reduce or limit their future emissions in quantitative terms. In the accounting process the removal of carbon by sinks from direct human-induced land-use change and forestry activities are included. Parties can choose to include net removals of carbon from certain additional activities, including forest management, cropland management, and revegetation (UN, 1997).

L

London Convention/London Protocol (LC/LP)
The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972, known as the London Convention, protects the marine environment. Its objective is to promote the effective control of all sources of marine pollution and to prevent pollution of the sea by dumping of wastes and other matter. Currently, 87 States are Parties to this Convention. In 1996, the London Protocol modernised the Convention and it will, eventually, replace it. Under the Protocol all dumping is prohibited, including for the purposes of ’geoengineering’, except for possibly acceptable wastes on a ‘reverse list’. The Protocol entered into force in 2006 and there are currently 53 Parties to the Protocol. In 2013, an amendment to the Protocol sought to establish a stable, legally binding framework for the regulation of marine geoengineering (as described in a new Annex), while also allowing for regulatory flexibility and adaptability based on a precautionary approach. The amendment was adopted by consensus but is not yet in force, with only six contracting Parties having submitted their instruments of acceptance so far (IMO, 2022).

M

Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB)
One of several solar radiation modification (SRM) approaches to increase the planetary albedo. In this approach, it is proposed to inject sea salt aerosols into persistent marine low clouds. This is expected to increase the cloud droplet concentration of these clouds and their reflectivity (p2249, IPCC, 2021).

Methane (CH)
The greenhouse gas methane is the major component of natural gas and associated with all hydrocarbon fuels. Significant anthropogenic emissions also occur as a result of animal husbandry and paddy rice production (p2238, IPCC, 2021).

Mineralization/Remineralization
The conversion of an element from its organic form to an inorganic form as a result of microbial decomposition. Accelerating the conversion of silicate rocks to carbonates either at the surface or underground results in permanent storage for carbon dioxide (RS/RAE, 2018).

Mitigation (of climate change)
A human intervention to reduce emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. Note that this encompasses carbon dioxide removal options (p554, IPCC, 2018), but not solar radiation modification.

Mitigation Deterrence
Mitigation deterrence is the risk that pursuing carbon dioxide removal (CDR) could discourage, deter or delay other mitigation efforts. It is similar to the rebound effect – the reduction in expected gains from new resource-efficient technologies – as both are due to behavioural or systemic responses (McLaren, 2020).

Moral Hazard Argument
The argument that consideration or deployment of climate-altering techniques will cause an overall undesirable outcome due to weakening efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The moral hazard argument is often used to rule out any consideration of solar radiation modification (SRM) (Wagner & Merk 2019).

Mount Pinatubo
Volcano in the Philippines whose eruption in 1991 lowered global temperatures by up to 0.5°C over the following two-years, providing evidence for prospective stratospheric aerosol injection (Soden et al., 2002).

N

Nature-Based Approaches (to carbon dioxide removal)
A climate-altering approach. The intentional, sustainable intervention in the natural environment with the purpose of enhancing or accelerating the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Techniques include afforestation and peatland and wetland restoration.

Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)
Actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits (IUCN, 2016). Some NBS are specifically directed at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, see for example afforestation, these are also known as nature-based approaches.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
A term used under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change whereby a Party to the Paris Agreement outlines its plans for reducing its emissions. Some countries’ NDCs also address how they will adapt to climate change impacts, and what support they need from, or will provide to, other Paris Agreement tries to adopt low-carbon pathways and to build climate resilience (p554, IPCC, 2018).

Negative Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere by deliberate human activities, i.e. in addition to the removal that would occur via natural carbon cycle or atmospheric chemistry processes (p2240, IPCC, 2021).

Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs)
Technologies intended to achieve negative emissions i.e. removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Applied at very large scale these can be considered climate-altering technologies. See also greenhouse gas removals.

Net Negative Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A situation of net negative greenhouse gas emissions is achieved when metric-weighted anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) removals exceed metric-weighted anthropogenic GHG emissions. Where multiple GHG are involved, the quantification of net emissions depends on the metric chosen to compare emissions of different gases (p2240, IPCC, 2021).

Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Condition in which metric-weighted anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are balanced by metric-weighted anthropogenic GHG removals over a specified period. The quantification of net zero GHG emissions depends on the GHG emission metric chosen to compare emissions and removals of different gases, as well as the time horizon chosen for that metric (p2240, IPCC, 2021).

Nitrous Oxide (NO)
A greenhouse gas. The main anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide (N₂O) is agriculture, but important contributions also come from sewage treatment, fossil fuel combustion, and chemical industrial processes. N₂O is also produced naturally from a wide variety of biological sources in soil and water, particularly microbial action in wet tropical forests (p2240, IPCC, 2021). N₂O may be a by-product of some nature-based approaches to removing carbon such as afforestation.

O

Ocean Acidification
A reduction in the pH of the ocean, accompanied by other chemical changes (primarily in the levels of carbonate and bicarbonate ions), over an extended period, typically decades or longer, which is caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, but can also be caused by other chemical additions or subtractions from the ocean. Anthropogenic OA refers to the component of pH reduction that is caused by human activity (p2241, IPCC, 2021).

Ocean Alkalinisation/Alkalinity Enhancement
A proposed carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method that involves deposition of alkaline minerals or their dissociation products at the ocean surface. This increases surface total alkalinity, and may thus increase ocean carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake and ameliorate surface ocean acidification (p2241, IPCC, 2021).

Ocean Fertilisation
A proposed carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method that relies on the deliberate increase of nutrient supply to the near-surface ocean with the aim of sequestering additional CO2 from the atmosphere through biological production. Methods include direct addition of micro-nutrients or macro-nutrients. To be successful, the additional carbon needs to reach the deep ocean where it has the potential to be sequestered on climatically relevant time scales (p2241, IPCC, 2021).

Outdoor Experimentation
The testing of climate-altering technologies or techniques through experiments which are not expected to have discernible climate-scale effects. Such activities are not deployments of the technologies or techniques (for a discussion of framing experimentation see Bellamy (2014)).

Oxford Principles
A list of five high-level principles for the governance of research, development, and any eventual deployment of climate-altering techniques. Drafted by an ad-hoc group of academics and submitted to a United Kingdom House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology inquiry into how geoengineering should be governed. The principles subsequently became known as the ‘Oxford Principles’ and have been influential in framing debates (Rayner et al., 2013).

Overshoot
The temporary exceedance of a specified level of forcing, concentration, or global warming, such as 1.5°C and then a return to or below that level again before the end of a specified period of time. Overshoot increases the crossing of tipping points. Climate-altering approaches are suggested to limit or make an overshoot temporary, i.e., by anthropogenically removing excess carbon dioxide (p555 & 559, IPCC, 2018). In addition to using carbon dioxide removal to address overshoot (e.g., in the IPCC pathways (IPCC, 2018)), solar radiation modification is also being considered by some as a temporary overshoot measure (MacMartin et al., 2018).

Ozone (O)
Ozone is a gaseous atmospheric constituent. In the troposphere, it is created both naturally and by photochemical reactions involving gases resulting from human activities (smog). Tropospheric ozone acts as a greenhouse gas. In the stratosphere, it is created by the interaction between solar ultraviolet radiation and molecular oxygen (O₂). Stratospheric ozone plays a dominant role in the stratospheric radiative balance. Its concentration is highest in the ozone layer (p555, IPCC, 2018). Some stratospheric aerosol injection solar radiation modification particle candidates may harm stratospheric ozone, whilst some may enhance it (Keith, 2013).

P

Paris Agreement
An international agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Agreed in 2015 and entered into force in 2016, a key goal of the Agreement is “Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”. Achieving this goal would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. Article 4 of the Agreement also sets the goal of achieving a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks, including through the use of climate-altering approaches, by the second half of the 21st century, and achieving net-negative thereafter (UN, 2015). The Agreement also aims to strengthen countries capacity to deal with the impacts of climate change (UN, 2015).

Procedural Justice
Justice in the way outcomes are brought about including who participates and is heard in the processes of decision making (p556 & 552 IPCC, 2018).

R

Radiative Forcing (RF)
The change in the net, downward minus upward, radiative flux (expressed in Watts per square meter) due to a change in an external driver of climate change (p2245, IPCC, 2021). Drivers include changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide, the output of the Sun or albedo through natural changes or, theoretically, through solar radiation modification. Negative radiative forcing indicates that more energy is sent back than is received, leading to cooling.

Reforestation
Conversion to forests on land that has previously contained forests but that has been converted to some other use (p2245, IPCC, 2021). For a discussion of the term forest, afforestation, reforestation and deforestation, see the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and their 2019 Refinement..

Removals
See Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) and Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR).

Residual emissions
Residual emissions are the emissions remaining after all technically and economically feasible opportunities to reduce emissions in all covered scopes and sectors have been implemented (CAPF, 2020), for example some aviation emissions. Whilst the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change do not provide a definition of residual emissions, the Panel uses the term to describe emissions that would remain, after all other emission reduction measures other than carbon dioxide removal had been taken (SPM, para C.3, IPCC, 2018).

Risk
The potential for adverse consequences for human or ecological systems, recognizing the diversity of values and objectives associated with such systems. In the context of climate change, risks can arise from potential impacts of climate change as well as human responses to climate change. Relevant adverse consequences include those on lives, livelihoods, health and well-being, economic, social and cultural assets and investments, infrastructure, services (including ecosystem services), ecosystems and species.
In the context of climate change impacts, risks result from dynamic interactions between climate-related hazards with the exposure and vulnerability of the affected human or ecological system to the hazards. Hazards, exposure and vulnerability may each be subject to uncertainty in terms of magnitude and likelihood of occurrence, and each may change over time and space due to socio-economic changes and human decision-making (p2246, IPCC, 2021).

Risk Management
Plans, actions, strategies or policies to reduce the likelihood and/or magnitude of adverse potential consequences, based on assessed or perceived risks (p2246, IPCC, 2021).

S

Sequestration
The process of storing carbon in a carbon pool (p2248, IPCC, 2021).

Sink
Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas (GHG), an aerosol or a precursor of a GHG from the atmosphere (UN, 1992).

Slippery Slope
The concept that a course of action, once embarked upon is, hard to reverse, and seems to lead inevitably from one action or result to another with unintended consequences (Webster’s, 2020). The concept suggests that, if research into a climate-altering technique is undertaken, it may inevitably lead to its eventual development and deployment (for a discussion see Bellamy and Healey, 2018).

Soil Carbon Sequestration
Changing agricultural practices such as tillage or crop rotations to increase the soil carbon content (RS/RAE 2018).

Solar Geoengineering
See Solar Radiation Modification (SRM); this term is frequently used in North America.

Solar Radiation Management (SRM)
See Solar Radiation Modification (SRM); this term has been used by the IPCC up to the 2018 Special Report on 1.5°C.

Solar Radiation Modification (SRM)
Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) refers to a range of radiation modification measures not related to greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation that seek to limit global warming. Most methods involve reducing the amount of incoming solar radiation reaching the surface, but others also act on the longwave radiation budget by reducing optical thickness and cloud lifetime (p2249, IPCC, 2021). Artificial injection of stratospheric aerosols, marine cloud brightening, cirrus cloud thinning and land surface albedo modification are examples of proposed SRM methods (IPCC, 2018). SRM does not fall within the definitions of mitigation and adaptation (p558, IPCC, 2018). SRM is also referred to as solar radiation management, solar geoengineering, atmospheric climate intervention (ACI) or albedo enhancement.

Space-based Methods
Theoretical engineered approaches proposed to reduce the amount of solar energy reaching Earth by positioning sunshields in space to reflect or deflect the solar radiation (Shepherd, 2009).

Stratosphere
The highly stratified region of the atmosphere above the troposphere extending to about 50 km altitude (p2250, IPCC, 2021). The layer of the atmosphere where some forms of solar radiation modification are proposed to be deployed (see stratospheric aerosol injection) (Keith, 2013).

Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI)
One of several solar radiation modification (SRM) approaches to increase the planetary albedo. In the approach, it is proposed to inject highly reflective aerosols such as sulphates into the lower stratosphere. This is expected to increase the fraction of solar radiation deflected to space resulting in a planetary cooling (p2249, IPCC, 2021).

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015. There are 17 SDGs, to be achieved by 2030, which call for action in global partnership. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests (UN, 2020).

T

Termination Risk
The idea that, having been implemented for a significant period, if a solar radiation modification intervention subsequently failed or was abruptly stopped, that there would be a very swift and sustained rise in temperature (an upward ‘step’, rather than a ‘spike’) and a rapid transition to the much warmer climate associated with the higher carbon dioxide levels (Shepherd, 2009). Such rapid warming would create shocks for ecosystems and biodiversity and would be economically and socially disruptive (Trisos et al., 2018). Also known as Termination Shock or Bounce Back.

Tipping Point
A critical threshold beyond which a system reorganizes, often abruptly and/or irreversibly (p2251, IPCC, 2021). It has been suggested that climate-altering approaches may help avoid climate tipping points (Keith, 2013).

U

United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)
The world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment. It addresses the critical environmental challenges facing the world. The Environment Assembly meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law. Through its resolutions and calls to action, the Assembly provides leadership and catalyses intergovernmental action on the environment (UNEA, 2020). At its 4th session in March 2019, a draft resolution sponsored by Switzerland and a dozen countries invited the United Nations Environment Programme to produce an assessment or report of ‘geoengineering’ and its governance, however, the resolution was withdrawn as negotiations did not reach consensus (Perrez, 2020).

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Global environmental authority that promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system. Serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment (UNEP, 2020). Its governing body is the UN Environment Assembly.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UNESCO seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, the Sciences and Culture (UNESCO, 2020). UNESCO’s programmes contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) defined in Agenda 2030, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2015.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The UNFCCC was adopted and opened for signature in 1992. It entered into force in March 1994 and has 197 Parties. The Convention’s objective is the “stabilisation of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system(UN, 1992). The provisions of the Convention are pursued through two additional treaties: the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
All 193 member states of the United Nations (UN) are represented in the General Assembly to discuss and work together on international issues covered by the Charter of the UN such as development, peace and security and international law. Every year in September, all the Members meet at the Headquarters in New York for the General Assembly session (UNGA, 2020).

United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
The Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has five permanent Members with a veto power and 10 additional rotating Members, and each Member has one vote. All Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions. The Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorise the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security (UNSC, 2020).

W

Weather Modification
Operational programmes to modify the weather – including to disperse fog, enhance rain and snowfall, and suppress hail (WMO, 2015). Weather Modification techniques are not approaches to altering the climate (WMO, 2014).

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
An intergovernmental organisation (IGO) established in 1950 with a membership of 193 Member States and Territories. The specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. Activities include the monitoring of weather modification projects (WMO, 2020).

Acronyms

AR6 

6th Assessment Report of the IPCC 

BAU 

Business as Usual 

BECCS 

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage 

C2G 

The Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative 

CBD 

Convention on Biological Diversity 

CCN 

Cloud Condensation Nuclei 

CCS 

Carbon Capture and Storage/Sequestration 

CDR 

Carbon Dioxide Removal 

COP 

Conference of Parties 

CLRTBAP 

Convention on Long-Range Trans Boundary Air Pollution 

DAC 

Direct Air Capture 

DACS 

Direct Air Capture and Storage 

DACCS 

Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage 

ENMOD 

Environmental Modification Convention 

ETC 

Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration 

Gt 

Gigatonnes 

GEOMIP 

Geoengineering Model Intercalibration Project 

GESAMP 

Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Protection 

GRGP 

Geoengineering Research Governance Project 

GGR 

Greenhouse Gas Removal 

GGH 

Greenhouse Gasses 

IPCC 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

LC 

London Convention 1972 

LP 

London Protocol 1996 

MCB 

Marine Cloud Brightening 

NBS 

Nature Based Solutions 

NETs 

Negative Emissions Technologies 

OF 

Ocean Fertilisation 

OFAF 

Ocean Fertilisation Assessment Framework (of the LC/LP) 

SAI 

Stratospheric Aerosol Injection 

SDGs 

Sustainable Development Goals (UN) 

SCoPeX 

Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment 

SPICE 

Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering Research Project 

SR1.5 

Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (IPCC, 2018) 

SRM 

Solar Radiation Modification 

SRMGI 

Solar Radiation Management Governance Initiative 

UN 

United Nations 

UNCLOS 

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 

UNEP 

United Nations Environment Programme 

UNESCO 

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation 

UNFCCC 

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 

WCRP 

World Climate Research Programme 

WMO 

World Meteorological Organization 

 

Scientific notation

Carbon 

CO₂ 

Carbon dioxide 

CO₂e 

Carbon dioxide equivalents. A measure used to compare warming levels between CO₂ and other greenhouse gases 

Gigatonne 

1,000,000,000 tonnes (1 billion) 

Ha 

Hectare 

Megatonne 

1,000,000 tonnes (1 million) 

pa 

Per annum 

pH 

chemical measure of the acidity or basicity/alkalinity of a solution 

Ppm 

parts per million 

tCO₂/MtCO₂/GtCO₂ 

tonnes/megatons/ gigatons of carbon dioxide 

Tonne 

Measure of weight, 1,000 kilograms 

TWh 

Terawatt hours 

Watts/m² 

Watts per square meter 

TRL 

Technology Readiness Level 

μm 

Micro-meters (1 μm = 0.001mm) 

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