Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics 2021

Glossary

Adjusted emissions

See GHG Account

Afforestation

The act or process of establishing a forest on land that has not been forested in recent history.

Baseline Period

Emissions reduction is based on a Baseline Period. For the greenhouse gases CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O, 1990 was specified as the baseline. 1995 is the baseline for emissions of the F-gases.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂)

Carbon dioxide is one of the main gases responsible for climate change. It is mostly emitted through the oxidation of carbon in fossil fuels, e.g. burning coal.

Carbon sink

A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores CO₂ for an indefinite period.

Climate change

Climate change is a long-term change in the earth’s climate. This can be accelerated by human activity, e.g. by releasing CO₂ into the atmosphere.

Deforestation

The removal of forest stands by cutting and burning to provide land for agricultural purposes, residential or industrial building sites, roads, etc., or the harvesting of trees for building materials or fuel.

Fluorinated gases (F-gases)

F-gases are the generic name given to HFCs, PFCs, SF₆ and NF₃. These have been used as replacements for CFCs, which are ozone depleting substances that have been banned under the Montreal Protocol. They have very high global warming potentials.

Greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect is the process by which heat from the sun is trapped within the Earth’s atmosphere by greenhouse gases. This process is also known as radiative forcing.

GHG Account

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) recommended a new method of adjusting emissions for the purposes of reporting against targets in this, and future, publications. This adjustment acts to remove the impact of revisions to the historical time-series. This is known as the GHG Account and the calculation in detailed in section C.

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas which absorbs infrared radiation emitted from the surface of the Earth, helping to retain a portion of that energy in the atmosphere as heat.

Global warming potential (GWP)

GWP is a measure of how much a greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming. It is a relative scale which compares the potency of each gas to CO₂.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

HFCs are produced commercially as a substitute for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). HFCs are largely used in refrigeration and insulating foam. Their Global Warming Potentials range from 4 to 12,400 times that of CO₂, depending on the gas type.

Inventory

The inventory contains greenhouse gas emissions estimates for Scotland and the UK. The Inventory is a disaggregation of the UK Inventory, which is based on five major sectors: energy, industrial processes, agriculture, land-use, land-use change and forestry, and waste.

IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change. They provide advice to the UNFCCC on the scientific evidence and developments which are used to inform National Inventories.

LULUCF

Estimates of emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) depend critically on assumptions made on the rate of loss or gain of carbon in Scotland’s carbon rich soils. In Scotland, LULUCF activities, taken as a whole, acts as a sink, absorbing more greenhouse gas emissions than it releases.

Methane (CH₄)

Methane is a greenhouse gas that is around 28 times more potent in the atmosphere than CO₂ over a 100-year time horizon. Main sources include agriculture and landfill.

National Communication ( NC) Sectors

The UK NC sectors are agreed groupings of the more detailed sectors reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by the UK. This report uses NC sectors.

Nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃)

Nitrogen trifluoride is a greenhouse gas that is around 16,100 times more potent in the atmosphere than CO₂ over a 100-year time horizon. The main source of nitrogen trifluoride is in the making of semiconductors.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O)

Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that is around 265 times more potent in the atmosphere than CO₂ over a 100-year time horizon. The main source is agricultural soil.

Other Petroleum Gas (OPG)

This consists mainly of ethane plus some other hydrocarbons, excluding butane and propane.

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

PFCs are a by-product of aluminium smelting. They are also the replacement for CFCs in manufacturing semiconductors. The Global Warming Potentials of PFCs ranges from 6,630 – 11,100 times that of CO₂ over a 100-year time horizon.

Radiative forcing

An externally imposed perturbation in the radiative energy budget of the Earth's atmosphere. Such a perturbation can be brought about by changes in the concentrations of radiatively active species (e.g. greenhouse gases), changes in the solar irradiance incident upon the planet, or other changes that affect the radiative energy absorbed by the surface (e.g. changes in surface reflection properties).

Sequestration

The process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere.

Source (UNFCCC definition)

Any process or activity which releases a greenhouse gas or a precursor greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.

Sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆)

It is largely used in heavy industry to insulate high-voltage equipment and to assist in the manufacturing of cable-cooling systems. Its global warming potential is 23,500 times that of CO₂ over a 100-year time horizon.

UNFCCC

In 1992, the UNFCCC was adopted as the basis for a global response to climate change. The ultimate objective of the Convention is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.