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Environment & Climate vocabulary · Emissions and Carbon

CO2e

Meaning in environment & climate, with examples

abbreviationCommon term

In environment & climate, CO2e means: Short for carbon dioxide equivalent: a unit that expresses the warming effect of different greenhouse gases as the amount of CO2 that would cause the same warming.

In Turkish: CO2 eşdeğeri, karbondioksit eşdeğeri

How it is used

Calculated with each gas's global warming potential (GWP), usually over 100 years. Emissions are reported in tonnes of CO2e (tCO2e), thousand tonnes (ktCO2e) or million tonnes (MtCO2e). Read 'C O two E' or 'carbon dioxide equivalent'; it is also written CO2eq.

Example sentences

  1. The plant emitted 1.2 million tonnes of CO2e last year.

  2. Converting all gases into CO2e lets us compare methane and refrigerant leaks on the same scale.

Common collocations

  • tonnes of CO2e
  • tCO2e
  • MtCO2e
  • global warming potential
  • carbon dioxideA colorless gas, written CO2, released when coal, oil, gas, wood and other carbon-based materials burn. It is the main greenhouse gas produced by human activities.
  • greenhouse gasA gas in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide, that traps heat from the sun and warms the Earth's surface.
  • emission factorA value that converts an activity, such as liters of fuel burned or kilowatt-hours of electricity used, into the amount of greenhouse gas or pollutant emitted.
  • carbon footprintThe total amount of greenhouse gases caused by a person, product, company or event, usually given in tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
  • methaneA strong greenhouse gas (CH4) released by livestock, rice fields, landfills, coal mines and oil and gas operations. It traps much more heat than CO2 but stays in the air for only about 12 years.

More terms: Emissions and Carbon

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