Glossary

Baseline scenario
The baseline for a CDM project activity is the scenario that reasonably represents the anthropogenic emissions by sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) that would occur in the absence of the proposed project activity.

Biogas
Gas produced by the decomposition of organic matter (for example, the organic portion of municipal solid waste) and that, once treated, can be used as a fuel in thermal power stations.

Biomass
Biomass means non-fossilized and biodegradable organic material originating from plants, animals and micro-organisms. This shall also include products, by-products, residues and waste from agriculture, forestry and related industries as well as the non-fossilized and biodegradable organic fractions of industrial and municipal wastes. Biomass also includes gases and liquids recovered from the decomposition of non-fossilized and biodegradable organic material.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
A gas formed in combustion, breathing and the decomposition of organic material, through the total oxidation of carbon. It is essential for vegetation and is practically inert. Carbon dioxide is transparent in sunlight but absorbs the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, bringing about the so-called greenhouse effect. Higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to anthropological activities (combustion, deforestation) lead in time to climate change.

Carbon sink
See under Sink.

Carbon tax
A levy that is made on carbon-based fossil fuels with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Certification
Certification is the written assurance by the designated operational entity that, during a specified time period, a project activity achieved the reductions in anthropogenic emissions by sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) as verified.

Certified Emission Reductions (CERs)
A Kyoto Protocol unit equal to one metric ton of CO₂ equivalent. CERs are issued for emission reductions from CDM project activities. Two special types of CERs called temporary certified emission reduction (tCERs) and long-term certified emission reductions (lCERs) are issued for emission removals from afforestation and reforestation CDM projects.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
A mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol through which developed countries may finance greenhouse-gas emission reduction or removal projects in developing countries, and receive credits for doing so which they may apply towards meeting mandatory limits on their own emissions.

Climate change
A modification in the natural balance of the world’s climate. The main themes of climate change relate to an increase, both in intensity and frequency, of extreme phenomena (hurricanes, storms, flooding, drought), rising sea levels, desertification, higher global temperatures and a loss of biodiversity.

Cogeneration
Joint production, in the same plant, of electricity and heat, which ensures considerable energy efficiency when compared to producing the two elements separately.

Combined cycle
Technology for the generation of electricity from gaseous fuels, based on the use of one or more turbines (often natural-gas fired turbogas) associated with a steam turbine. The heat in the fumes coming out of the turbine is re-used in the steam turbine. Combined-cycle power plants are particularly efficient in terms of their fuel consumption, which reduces their environmental impact, in terms of emissions. If the heat that is produced by the combined-cycle process is then used for an industrial application, the system is known as cogeneration.

Designated operational entity (DOE)
An entity designated by the COP/MOP, based on the recommendation by the Executive Board, as qualified to validate proposed CDM project activities as well as verify and certify reductions in anthropogenic emissions by sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) and net anthropogenic GHG removals by sinks.

Emissions Reduction Units (ERUs)
A Kyoto Protocol unit equal to one metric tonne of CO₂ equivalent. ERUs are generated for emission reductions or emission removals from joint implementation projects.

Emissions Trading
A flexible instrument enshrined in the Kyoto Protocol that allows countries and companies to buy and sell emissions permits (see under Permits) to meet their pollution targets. Companies or governments that achieve a greater reduction in emissions than their objectives can sell these “credits” to a counterparty that hasn’t been able to abate its emissions sufficiently.

Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism
A 10-member panel elected at COP-7 which supervises the CDM and began operation in advance of the Protocol's entry into force.

Final energy use
The amount of energy consumed by end-users. In terms of electricity, it can be calculated as the sum of power sold by suppliers and the electricity consumed as a result of auto-production.

Flexible mechanism help desk
The Italian Environment Ministry's department for environmental research and development has set up a Flexible mechanism help desk to assist anyone in the preliminary stages of setting up a JI or CDM project. The service will help the proponent to weigh up the project's potential before starting to prepare the necessary documentation.
The helpdesk can be contacted via e-mail: meccanismi.flessibili@minambiente.it.

Greenhouse effect
Heating process brought about by the presence of certain gases (so-called greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere, which absorb part of the infrared rays emitted by the Earth’s surface and the oceans. A higher concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of human activity leads to a greenhouse effect, with an anomalous increase in atmospheric temperatures.

Greenhouse gases (GHG)
The atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming and climate change. The major GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). Less prevalent - but very powerful - greenhouse gases are hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆).

Joint Implementation (JI)
A mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol through which a developed country can receive "emissions reduction units" when it helps to finance projects that reduce net greenhouse-gas emissions in another developed country (in practice, the recipient state is likely to be a country with an "economy in transition"). An Annex I Party must meet specific eligibility requirements to participate in joint implementation.

Kyoto Protocol:
An international agreement standing on its own, and requiring separate ratification by governments. The Kyoto Protocol, among other things, sets binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions by industrialised countries.

Methane (CH₄)
A colourless, odourless and non-toxic gas that burns in the air with a bluish flame. It is formed by one atom of carbon and four of hydrogen and has the chemical formula CH₄. Methane is the main component of natural gas and is one of the major greenhouse gases.

Permits
Instruments of environmental policy that give the holder the right to produce greenhouse gases. They are issued by a government authority in line with the total level of emissions. Holders of emission permits can chose to produce an amount of GHGs corresponding to the number of permits held multiplied by the amount permitted by each permit or else to sell them. This creates a market in permits where the price reflects the marginal cost of emission abatement. This cost is minimised for the overall system thanks to the possibility to reduce emissions where it is cheapest to do so: those organisations who have a lower abatement cost will be able to sell excess permits to those who have a costlier abatement. In the past decade, this mechanism has been adopted to resolve various local and national pollution problems. The European Union is turning to this system as the main means of limiting GHG emissions from the industrial sector.

Registration
Registration is the formal acceptance by the Executive Board of a validated project activity as a CDM project activity. Registration is the prerequisite for the verification, certification and issuance of CERs related to that project activity.

Sink
Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Forests and other vegetation are considered sinks because they remove carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.

Tons of CO₂ equivalent
A unit of measurement that provides a way of representing together GHG emissions produced by different individual gases. For example, one metric ton of methane is 21 times more damaging in terms of climate change than one ton of carbon dioxide. The climate change potentials of the various gases have been drawn up by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
A convention agreed upon by a series of signing parties with the aim of stabilising GHG concentrations in the atmosphere to a level that prevents damaging, anthropogenic alterations to the climate system.

Validation
Validation is the process of independent evaluation of a project activity by a designated operational entity against the requirements of the CDM as set out in decision 3/CMP.1 its annex and relevant decisions of the COP/MOP, on the basis of the project design document (CDM-PDD).

Verification
Verification is the periodic independent review and ex post determination by a designated operational entity of monitored reductions in anthropogenic emissions by sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) that have occurred as a result of a registered CDM project activity during the verification period. There is no prescribed length of the verification period. It shall, however, not be longer than the crediting period.

(Sources: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Italian Environment Ministry www.minambiente.it)