Carbon footprint

A carbon footprint is the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with an activity, product, organization, or person, usually expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.

Greenhouse gas accounting: Methods for measuring and reporting greenhouse-gas emissions and removals. It provides the accounting framework used to calculate a carbon footprint.
Greenhouse gas: A gas that absorbs and emits infrared radiation, contributing to the greenhouse effect. Carbon footprints aggregate emissions from these heat-trapping gases.
Corporate sustainability: Business practices intended to manage environmental, social, and economic impacts over time. Companies use footprint inventories to set and track emissions goals.
Ecological footprint: A measure of biologically productive land and water needed to support resource use and absorb waste. Unlike a carbon footprint, it covers broader resource demand and land capacity.
Carbon dioxide equivalent: A unit that expresses the warming impact of different greenhouse gases as an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. It combines gases with different warming effects into one footprint total.
Carbon dioxide: A long-lived greenhouse gas released by processes including fossil-fuel combustion and land-use change. It is the reference gas for expressing most footprint totals.
Carbon labeling: The disclosure of a product's greenhouse-gas emissions through labels or related information. Labels translate product footprints into information for purchasing decisions.
Carbon intensity: Greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of output, energy, or economic activity. Intensity can fall while total emissions rise, unlike an absolute footprint.
Global warming potential: A measure comparing the heat trapped by a greenhouse gas over a chosen period with that trapped by carbon dioxide. Its time horizon and gas-specific values shape converted footprint totals.
Methane: A potent greenhouse gas emitted by sources including fossil-fuel systems, agriculture, and waste. Its substantial warming impact can make small emissions important in a footprint.

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