Carbon intensity

Carbon intensity is greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of energy, material, or economic output. It measures how emission-heavy an activity or product is relative to its chosen denominator.

Greenhouse gas accounting: Methods for measuring and reporting emissions of greenhouse gases from organizations, activities, or products. The accounting boundary determines which emissions enter a carbon-intensity numerator.
Electricity grid emissions: Greenhouse-gas emissions produced by electricity generation within a power grid over a given period. Grid emissions data help calculate the intensity of electricity consumed.
Absolute emissions: The total quantity of greenhouse gases released by an entity, activity, or region during a specified period. A falling intensity can coexist with rising total emissions when output expands.
Energy transition: The shift in energy systems from fossil fuels toward lower-emission sources and technologies. Replacing high-intensity energy sources can lower emissions per unit of energy.
Scope 3 emissions: Indirect value-chain greenhouse-gas emissions other than those from purchased energy, occurring upstream or downstream of an organization. Their broad and uncertain coverage complicates comparable product and company intensities.
Life-cycle assessment: A method for evaluating environmental impacts across a product’s life cycle, from resource extraction through disposal. Life-cycle boundaries can include emissions omitted from facility-level intensity figures.
Steelmaking: The industrial production of steel from iron ore or recycled scrap using chemical and thermal processes. Steel intensity comparisons reveal how production routes differ in emissions per tonne.
Carbon productivity: Economic output produced per unit of greenhouse-gas emissions. It reverses the ratio, expressing output per emissions rather than emissions per output.
Carbon lock-in: The persistence of greenhouse-gas emissions caused by long-lived infrastructure, institutions, and investments built around fossil fuels. High-intensity assets can lock in emissions even as cleaner alternatives become available.
Attributional life-cycle assessment: A life-cycle assessment approach that assigns existing environmental burdens to products or processes. Its allocation choices affect which emissions are assigned to each unit of output.

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