Exam #2 (GHG-201) Flashcards
What is the Mitigation Goal Standard?
An accounting and reporting standard for national and subnational greenhouse gas reduction goals.
It provides guidance for designing national and subnational mitigation goals and a standardized approach for assessing and reporting progress toward goal achievement.
What is a Mitigation Goal?
A commitment to reduce, or to limit the increase of, GHG emissions or emissions intensity by a specified quantity at a specified future date.
Example: To accommodate economic growth, China’s short-term goal is to improve emissions intensity and only later achieve absolute emission reductions. In the U.S., the goal is to reduce emissions, even in the short term.
*Usage may differ between organizations. “Mitigation” and “reduction” sometimes used interchangeably; likewise “target” and “goal.” For clarity and consistency, the narrative adopts the MGS definitions and usage.
What is Emissions Intensity?
The amount of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of another variable, such as economic output (GDP), energy (MWh), or population.
Example: Tonnes of CO2 emitted for millions of dollars of economic output or from generating a MWh of electricity.
What are the Elements of a Mitigation Goal?
A mitigation goal has four elements: the Goal Boundary, the Goal Type, the Goal Time Frame, and the Goal Level.
What is a Goal Boundary?
Greenhouse gases, sectors, geographic area, and in-jurisdiction and out-of-jurisdiction emissions covered by a mitigation goal.
Examples: A pledge to address Scopes 1 and 2 emissions of CO2, CH4, and N20 emissions by operations of a municipality, except for waste managment, usually from within its geographical boundaries. Or, pledge by a small company to address emissions of all GHGs and all scopes from its operations; or a pledge by a large corporation to reduce Scope 3 emissions of CO2 from its global supply chain.
What is Goal Type?
The way the goal is framed.
The Mitigation Goal Standard defines four goal types: base year emissions goal, fixed-level goal, base year intensity goal, and baseline scenario goal.
What is the Base Year?
The specific year of historical data against which emissions are compared over time.
Ordinarily, this is the earliest year of typical organizational operations from which annual data exist. Use of a “typical” year avoids using unually low or high emissions to set a baseline.
What is a Baseline Scenario?
A reference case that represents future events or conditions most likely to occur in the absence of activities taken to meet the mitigation goal.
Example: a company experiencing significant growth can project emissions from its current operational structure without changes that results from its mitigation efforts. This typically yields emissons that grow in the short term, but not as rapidly as projected in the baseline scenario.
What is a Single-Year Goal?
A goal designed to achieve a reduction in GHG emissions or emissions intensity by a single target year.
Example: a 30% reduction in emissions or emissions intensity by 2030.
What is a Multi-Year Goal?
A goal designed to achieve GHG emission reductions or reductions in intensity over several years of a target period.
Example: reduction in emissions or emissions intensity by 30% from a 2018 baseline, determined as an averarge over the 2031-2035 interval.
What is a Goal Period?
For base year emissions goals and base year intensity goals, it is the time between the base year and the target year or period. For baseline scenario goals, it is the time between the start year of the baseline scenario and target year or period. For fixed-level goals, it is the time between the year in which the goal is adopted and the target year or period.
Examples: The 10-year intrerval between a base year of 2020 and a target year of 2030 or the 15-year inteval between the base year of 2020 and the end of a five-year target period in 2035.
What is a Target Year?
The year by which the goal is to be met, which is the last year of the goal period.
Example: 2030 as the target year for U.S. net emissions to fall to 50-52% of their 2005 level.
What is a Target Period?
A period of several consecutive years over which the mitigation goal is to be achieved, which are the last years of the goal period.
Example: For an organization where emissions vary significantly from year to year, a time period, e.g., 2025-2030, long enough to minimize the impact of such variations.
What is a
Base-Year Emissions Goal?
A mitigation goal that aims to reduce, or control the increase of, GHG emissions relative to a GHG emissions level in a historical base year.
Examples: A reduction of 25% in CO2 emissions compared to a 2025 baseline or no increase in emissions from a growing municipality by 2025 relative to 2018.
What is a Fixed-Level Goal?
A mitigation goal that aims to reduce, or limit the increase of, GHG emissions to an absolute GHG emissions level in a target year.
Example: Emissons no greater than 20 Gt(CO2e) in 2030.
What is a Total Carbon Budget?
The estimated cumulative net global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions from the pre-industrial period to the time that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions reach net zero that would result, at some probability, in limiting global warming to a given level, accounting for the impact of other anthropogenic emissions.
What is an Emissions Gap?
The difference between where GHG emissions levels are heading under the current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and where science indicates emissions levels should be in 2030 to be on a least-cost path toward limiting warming to below 2°C or further to 1.5°C.
