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Environment & Climate vocabulary · Emissions and Carbon

Net zero

Meaning in environment & climate, with examples

/ˌnet ˈzɪroʊ/nounCore term

In environment & climate, net zero means: A state in which the greenhouse gases a country or company still emits, after deep emission cuts, are balanced by the same amount being removed from the atmosphere.

In Turkish: net sıfır, net sıfır emisyon

How it is used

Used as a noun (reach net zero, net zero by 2050) and before nouns (net-zero target, net-zero pathway, net-zero emissions). Credible net-zero plans focus first on cutting emissions and use carbon removals only for what is left, the so-called residual emissions.

Example sentences

  1. The group aims to reach net zero across its whole value chain by 2050.

  2. Our net-zero target was validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Common collocations

  • reach net zero
  • net-zero target
  • net-zero pathway
  • net zero by 2050
  • residual emissions
  • carbon neutralDescribing an organization, product or event whose net carbon emissions over a period are zero, usually because the emissions that remain are balanced with carbon credits.
  • decarbonizationThe process of reducing the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions of an economy, sector or company, for example by switching to clean energy and electrifying processes.
  • carbon sinkA natural or artificial system, such as a forest, ocean, soil or wetland, that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.
  • carbon offsetA reduction or removal of emissions somewhere else, such as in a forestry or clean cookstove project, that an organization pays for to compensate for its own emissions.
  • emissionsGases or particles released into the air, for example from vehicles, factories, power plants or farms. In climate work the word usually means greenhouse gases.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Emissions and Carbon

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