Activity data
The measured amount of an activity that causes emissions: litres of fuel, kWh consumed, tonnes shipped, kilometres travelled. Multiplied by the emission factor, it becomes tCO2e.
Glossary
Carbon terms, made simple.
From inventory to offsetting: the words you find in standards, laws and reports, explained plainly.
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73 of 73 terms
- CO2Carbon dioxide1 tCO2e
- CH4Non-fossil methane (cattle)27 tCO2e
- CH4Fossil methane29.8 tCO2e
- N2ONitrous oxide (fertilizers)273 tCO2e
A
Additionality
The principle that a reduction or removal only happened because of carbon credit revenue. If the project would have gone ahead anyway, it brings no additional benefit to the climate.
Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
Rules that let countries cooperate to meet their NDCs, including transferring mitigation outcomes between them and creating an international carbon crediting mechanism, with adjustments to avoid double counting.
Attendee travel
Trips made by attendees, guests and staff to an event, by plane, car, bus or other means. It is usually the largest source of an event's emissions and falls under Scope 3. The data can be collected at registration.
Audit trail
A record that links every number in the inventory to its source document, its emission factor and the calculation used. It lets an auditor or verifier retrace the steps and confirm the result.
B
Base year
The reference period against which later emissions are compared to measure reductions and track targets. It can be recalculated when there are major changes in the organization or the methodology.
Baseline
A reference scenario that estimates the emissions that would occur without the project. The difference between the baseline and the project's actual result determines how many credits it can generate.
Biogenic emissions
CO2 released by burning or decomposing biomass, such as ethanol, sugarcane bagasse and firewood from renewable sources. The GHG Protocol asks for them to be reported separately from Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
Brazilian Emission Allowance (CBE)
An SBCE asset that grants the right to emit one tCO2e. It is allocated to regulated operators, free of charge or for a fee, under the National Allocation Plan.
Brazilian GHG Protocol Program
An initiative of the FGV Center for Sustainability Studies (FGVces) with WRI, launched in 2008, that adapts the GHG Protocol to Brazil, offers calculation tools with national factors and runs the Public Emissions Registry.
Brazilian GHG Protocol Program seals
The rating given to inventories published in the Public Emissions Registry: Bronze for a partial inventory, Silver for a complete inventory and Gold for a complete inventory verified by a body accredited by Inmetro, Brazil's accreditation authority. The criteria for each cycle are set by the Program.
C
Carbon credit
A certificate representing one tonne of CO2e reduced or removed from the atmosphere by a project, measured and verified under a recognized methodology and recorded in a registry.
Carbon footprint
The total GHG emissions of an organization, product, event or farm over a period, expressed in tCO2e. For organizations, it is calculated through the emissions inventory.
Carbon removal
Taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it, for example in trees, in soil or in geological formations. Unlike a reduction, which prevents the emission from happening.
Certification standard
A program that sets the rules, methodologies and verifications for issuing carbon credits, such as Verra (VCS) and Gold Standard. Each standard keeps its own credit registry.
CO2 equivalent (CO2e)
A common unit that converts any greenhouse gas into its equivalent impact in carbon dioxide, using the global warming potential (GWP). It lets different gases be added up into a single number.
Compliance carbon market
A system created by law in which companies above an emissions threshold must monitor, report and stay within a cap, using allowances and credits accepted by the regulator. In Brazil, it is the SBCE.
Compliance reconciliation
The periodic proof, by a regulated operator, that it holds enough allowances (CBEs) and certificates (CRVEs) to cover its emissions for the period, with these assets cancelled in the registry.
CONAR and Annex U
Brazil's National Advertising Self-Regulation Council revised its rules for advertising with environmental and social claims in October 2025 (article 36 and Annex U). Every environmental claim must be true, substantiated and clearly state its scope.
Core Carbon Principles (CCP)
Ten principles from the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) that define a high-integrity credit, such as additionality, permanence, robust quantification and no double counting. Approved credits can carry the CCP label.
Credit registry
A public system that issues, transfers and retires carbon credits, each with a unique serial number. It ensures the same credit is not sold or used twice.
Credit retirement
The permanent removal of a credit from circulation in the registry, on behalf of whoever is offsetting. Once retired, the credit can no longer be sold or used again. Under the SBCE, the legal term is cancellation.
Cut-off date
The date after which deforestation makes a product unacceptable. Under the EUDR, it is December 31, 2020: products from land deforested after that date cannot enter the European Union.
D
Deforestation-free
A product that comes from land not deforested after the cut-off date, proven by geolocation and satellite image analysis.
Double counting
When the same tonne of CO2e is counted more than once, by two buyers or by a buyer and a country. Registries with serial numbers and retirement prevent it.
Due diligence statement
The document a company submits to the European Union under the EUDR, stating that it has checked where the product came from and has assessed and mitigated the risks of deforestation and illegality.
E
Emission factor
A coefficient that turns an activity into emissions, such as kilograms of CO2e per litre of diesel, per kWh of electricity or per kilometre flown. It comes from official sources such as the IPCC, the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program and Brazil's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Enteric fermentation
The digestive process of cattle and other ruminants that produces methane (CH4). It is the largest source of livestock emissions and falls under the farm's Scope 1 and the Scope 3 of meatpackers and traders.
EUDR
The EU Deforestation Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115. To sell cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy and wood, and their derived products, in the European Union, companies must prove with geolocation that production did not come from land deforested after Dec 31, 2020. It applies to medium and large companies from Dec 30, 2026 and to micro and small companies from Jun 30, 2027.
G
Geolocation and polygon
Coordinates that identify where a product was produced. For plots larger than 4 hectares, the EUDR requires a polygon, that is, the full outline of the area, not just a single point.
GHG emissions inventory
An organized account of all emissions of an organization or activity over a period, split by source and by scope, following a recognized methodology such as the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064. It is the starting point for reducing, offsetting and reporting.
GHG Protocol
The most widely used global standard for measuring and reporting corporate emissions, created by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). It defined Scopes 1, 2 and 3.
GHG Protocol Agricultural Tool (Brazil)
A Brazilian tool for calculating farming emissions, based on the GHG Protocol Agricultural Guidance and developed with Embrapa and Unicamp, using Brazilian emission factors. It covers crops, livestock and land-use change.
Global warming potential (GWP)
How much a gas warms the planet over 100 years compared with CO2, which is set at 1. Under the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), fossil methane is 29.8, non-fossil methane (such as from cattle) is 27 and nitrous oxide is 273.
Greenhouse gases (GHG)
Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet. Inventories cover the seven Kyoto Protocol gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3.
Greenwashing
Communication that exaggerates or invents environmental benefits, such as vague or unsupported claims. It is avoided by showing verifiable data, scope and method next to each statement.
I
Indirect supplier
A farm that sells to another farm (for example, a breeding farm selling to a fattening farm) before the product reaches the meatpacker or trader. Tracing these suppliers is one of the biggest challenges in the chain.
IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN's scientific body. It publishes the climate assessment reports, the guidelines for national inventories and the GWP values used in calculations.
ISO 14064
A family of international standards on greenhouse gases. Part 1 covers organizational inventories, part 2 reduction and removal projects, and part 3 the verification and validation of this information.
ISO 14067
The international standard for calculating a product's carbon footprint over its life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal.
ISO 14068-1
A 2023 international standard on the transition to net zero. It requires quantifying the footprint, reducing emissions first and only then offsetting what remains, with high-quality credits and no double counting.
L
Land-use change
Converting an area from one use to another, such as forest to pasture or cropland. It releases the carbon stored in vegetation and soil and is Brazil's largest source of emissions.
Law 15,042/2024
A Brazilian law signed on December 11, 2024 that created the SBCE. Sources emitting more than 10,000 tCO2e per year must monitor, report and verify their emissions; above 25,000 tCO2e per year, they must also reconcile them with allowances or certificates. Primary agricultural production is not subject to these obligations.
Leakage
An increase in emissions outside the project area caused by the project itself, such as deforestation that moves to a neighbouring forest. It must be estimated and deducted from the credits.
LGPD
Brazil's General Data Protection Law (Law 13,709/2018), which governs how personal data are collected and used in Brazil, such as attendee data used to calculate travel.
M
Mitigation hierarchy
The recommended order for acting on emissions: measure, avoid, reduce and, last, offset what remains. Standards such as ISO 14068-1 and advertising rules require that offsetting does not replace reduction.
MRV
Monitoring, Reporting and Verification: the cycle of measuring emissions, reporting them in a standard way and having them independently verified. It underpins regulated markets and carbon credits.
N
National Allocation Plan (PNA)
The SBCE instrument that sets, for each period, the emissions cap and how CBEs are distributed among regulated operators.
NDC
Nationally Determined Contribution: the climate target each country submits under the Paris Agreement and updates every five years. Brazil's compliance market is one of the tools for meeting Brazil's NDC.
Net zero
A long-term goal of cutting emissions as far as possible, in line with science, and balancing only the small remainder with permanent carbon removals.
O
Offsetting (climate compensation)
Balancing emissions that could not be avoided by retiring the same amount of tCO2e in certified carbon credits. It should come after measuring and reducing, always stating the scope and method.
Organizational boundaries
The rule that defines which units, companies and operations are included in the inventory: by operational control, financial control or equity share, according to the GHG Protocol.
P
Paris Agreement
The 2015 climate treaty in which countries commit to keeping global warming well below 2 °C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
Permanence
The assurance that carbon removed or kept stored does not return to the atmosphere, for example through fire or deforestation. Standards require long-term monitoring and buffer reserves of credits to cover losses.
Primary and secondary data
Primary data come straight from the operation or the supplier (invoices, bills, meter readings). Secondary data are industry averages or public databases, used when primary data are not available. The more primary data, the more accurate the inventory.
Public Emissions Registry
The public platform of the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program where participating organizations publish their inventories. It is the basis for the Bronze, Silver and Gold seals.
R
REDD+
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, plus conservation, sustainable management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. A mechanism created under the UN climate convention and the basis of many projects in the Amazon.
Regulated operator
A company or facility responsible for emission sources subject to SBCE obligations, according to the annual emission thresholds set in Law 15,042/2024.
Rural Environmental Registry (CAR)
The mandatory electronic registry of every rural property in Brazil, created by the Forest Code (Law 12,651/2012), with the property boundary, protected areas and legal reserve.
S
SBCE
The Brazilian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System, Brazil's compliance carbon market, created by Law 15,042/2024. It sets thresholds, reporting obligations and the trading of allowances and certificates.
SBCE managing authority
The authority that regulates and runs the SBCE. The role is currently held on a temporary basis by the Special Secretariat for the Carbon Market at Brazil's Ministry of Finance.
SBTi
The Science Based Targets initiative, which validates corporate emissions reduction targets against what science says is needed to limit global warming.
Scope 1
Direct emissions from sources the organization controls: fuels in boilers, generators and its own fleet, industrial processes, refrigerant leaks and, on farms, livestock and fertilizers.
Scope 2
Indirect emissions from generating the electricity and heat the organization buys and uses. They can be calculated with the grid average (location-based method) and with the energy contracts (market-based method).
Scope 3
All other indirect emissions in the value chain, upstream and downstream: purchased goods, transport, travel, commuting, waste and use of sold products. It is usually the largest share of the footprint and the scope sponsors and buyers ask their suppliers for.
Scope 3 categories
The 15 categories into which the GHG Protocol divides Scope 3: eight upstream (such as purchased goods and services, transport and business travel) and seven downstream (such as distribution, use and end of life of sold products).
T
Third-party verification
An independent assessment of an inventory or project by a body that took no part in preparing it, in line with ISO 14064-3. It gives clients, investors and auditors confidence in the reported numbers.
Tonne of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e)
The standard measure for emissions and carbon credits. One carbon credit represents one tCO2e reduced or removed from the atmosphere.
Traceability
The ability to prove where a piece of data or a product comes from along the chain. For emissions, each value is linked to its source; in agriculture, each batch is linked to the farm and plot polygon it came from.
V
Verification body (VB)
An independent organization that verifies emissions inventories. In the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program, verification for the Gold seal is carried out by a verification body accredited by Inmetro.
Verified Emission Reduction or Removal Certificate (CRVE)
An SBCE asset representing one tCO2e actually reduced or removed. Voluntary market credits can become CRVEs if they come from accredited methodologies and are entered in the system's central registry.
Vintage
The year in which the reduction or removal represented by the credit took place. It helps assess how recent and how good the credits used are.
Voluntary carbon market
A market where companies and individuals buy carbon credits on their own initiative, to offset emissions or meet public commitments, with no legal obligation.
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Definitions for guidance, based on the standards and laws cited. For compliance decisions, always check the official text.