Carbon Economy Glossary

Universal needs : Universal nomenclature of carbon economy needs. In addition to the needs tracked by national accounts, a balanced atmosphere is added, measured in carbon gain (and its production). Intermediate needs (e.g. energy) are tracked in terms of emission factors per universal physical unit, to which is added, for final needs (e.g. human food), the quantity consumed per capita (e.g. food calories).

Natural capture (or natural emissions) :
The amount of GHG removed from the atmosphere (or added to it, to a lesser extent) by a wild living organism or natural phenomenon.

 

Net Zero Targets :
Estimation of Universal Needs at the Net Zero Deadline.

 

Cumulative carbon accounting :
In its various versions (analytical and budgetary or financial management), it provides the measurements in CO₂ equivalent weight necessary for the carbon economy. It is “cumulative” because it follows the cumulative logic of monetary accounting: for the carbon content of its sales (the cumulative carbon content of its purchases and added emissions) and for the carbon yield of its production financing (the cumulative carbon yield of the production it finances and the yield it adds).

 

Carbon competition :
This operates in the same way as monetary competition, both between goods and services and between financing options, as soon as customers have access to the two microeconomic signals of the carbon economy: the carbon content associated with each product and the carbon yield associated with each investment. It is beneficial in that it pushes emission factors down and carbon yields up.

 

Carbon Content of Products Sold (CCP) :
This is the cumulative amount of GHG emissions released into the atmosphere that are necessary until ownership is transferred to the customer. It is calculated and reported as the monetary value of the same sale: the same quantity is not multiplied by the cost price but by the emission factor calculated according to the same principles, breaking down the CCP of purchases and emissions added by the producer (and not the value of purchases and added value) (cumulative carbon accounting). It is identical to the Product Footprint, the “cradle-to-customer” emission (Life Cycle Analysis) and the upstream Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (Carbon Protocols).

 

Net Zero constraint : It states that by the Net Zero deadline, natural capture will be equal to human emissions; and therefore, between now and then, cumulative carbon gains must cover the initial gap between capture and emissions, taking into account the decline in productivity due to GHG emissions.

 

Net Zero Deadline :
Target date for achieving Net Zero, estimated based on information available today (particularly on the decline in productivity due to GHG emissions) that avoids a significant reduction in average human lifespan.

 

Decrease in productivity due to GHGs :
expressed as a rate, it affects (and will continue to affect until Net Zero equilibrium is reached) the productivity of natural capture (water and heat stress on living organisms, ocean acidification, etc.) and that of human production (in terms of GDP) : Production for nothing (reconstruction after disasters, relocation of climate migrants, dykes, etc.) or less efficient production (lower agricultural yields, activities impossible without air conditioning, etc.). The rate affecting human production reduces the rate of technical progress in the long term. These two rates increase with the Net Zero deadline because they play out in a “loop”: they exacerbate the GHG surplus, which exacerbates them, which exacerbates the GHG surplus, and so on.

 

Carbon Economy :
It transposes the management of monetary value flows of an economic actor into the management of its GHG emission flows (in CO₂ equivalent weight). The monetary value of a purchase or sale is replaced by its Product Carbon Content, equal to the product of the same quantity as in monetary terms by the Emission Factor. Management, budgetary, financial and auditing tools can be reused. Competition based on prices and monetary returns is complemented by carbon competition based on emission factors and carbon yields.

 

Human or anthropogenic emissions (or technological capture) : Amount of GHG added to the atmosphere (or reduction in human emissions*) by human activity. *This refers to technological capture. To date, there are no examples of direct capture from the atmosphere with a positive balance.

 

Scope 1, 2 and 3 upstream emissions :
synonymous with carbon content product

Emissions from the cradle (or mine) to the customer :
synonymous with carbon content product

 

Carbon footprint :
synonymous with carbon content product

 

Net Zero Balance :
Target balance point, when the flow of natural captures from the atmosphere becomes greater than or equal to the flow of human emissions added to the atmosphere.

 

Emissions factor of a production or product (or carbon intensity) :
Ratio between its carbon content and its quantity (just as its price is the ratio between its monetary value and the same quantity).

 

Universal emission factor :
This is the average factor for products that meet the same universal need and are therefore substitutable. From the producer’s point of view, the benchmark is their direct competition. From the community’s point of view, the benchmark is global.

Carbon gain or loss : This is the reduction or increase in emissions into the atmosphere caused by an action. A distinction is made between gains or losses from natural captures and those from human emissions, and among the latter, between gains from quantities consumed and gains from production. A distinction is also made between unavoidable losses due to the weakening of productivity by GHGs and those on which human action remains possible.

 

Carbon gain or loss from quantities consumed :
At the macroeconomic level, this is calculated by multiplying the change in quantity by the emission factor.

 

Carbon gain or loss from production :
At the macroeconomic level, this is calculated by multiplying the emission factor variation by the quantity. At the producer level, the emission factor is replaced by the difference between the universal emission factor and the producer’s emission factor. The producer’s consolidated gain consolidates the gain from financed production.

 

GHG or Greenhouse Gas : Gas that causes the Earth’s atmosphere to warm up by trapping heat on Earth and disrupting the Earth’s balance. The main GHGs are carbon dioxide and methane. It is measured by scientists in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

 

Carbon intensity :
synonymous with emission factor

 

Quantity consumed :
This is the ratio between the Carbon Content product and its Emission Factor.

 

Universal per capita consumption :
This is the ratio between the carbon content product by global per capita consumption of a universal good (e.g. daily per capita consumption of food calories).

 

Carbon yield of a production : This is the carbon gain or loss of the production divided by the carbon content product by the necessary investment. The consolidated yield is the consolidated gain of the financed productions divided by the necessary consolidated investments.

 

Carbon yield of financing :
This is the consolidated carbon yield of the production(s) financed.

 

Tonnes of CO₂ equivalent GHG : A common unit of measurement for GHG weight. It is calibrated so that one tonne of CO₂ equivalent has the same greenhouse effect over 100 years, regardless of the gas concerned.

 

Transition trajectory :
Annual values of universal needs up to net zero targets.

 

Transition :
Described as climatic, environmental, ecological, low-carbon, etc., it refers both to the period leading up to the Net Zero Deadline and the actions taken to achieve it.