Documentation

Glossary

Short definitions for terms used across DECARB. Chips jump to the related module when one exists. Inventory fields and model outputs stay labeled as observed or projected. Optional Beginner mode (header toggle, off by default) shows the plain-language lines below as tooltips and callouts.

Research BaseAbout

DECARB product label: open inventory and analysis app for climate policy data, not a ranking or paid benchmark.

Beginner: An open app for carbon pricing data and related policy tools, not a country ranking.

ETSETS

Emissions Trading System: a cap-and-trade market that limits covered emissions and lets entities trade allowances.

Beginner: A government sets a limit on covered emissions and issues tradeable permits (allowances). Polluters can buy and sell those permits.

AllowanceETS

A tradable permit that typically authorizes one tonne of CO₂-equivalent under an ETS. Annual World Bank price series in DECARB are USD per tonne; not live ICE or EEX ticks.

Beginner: A permit to emit (usually one tonne of CO₂e) that can be traded under an ETS.

Carbon taxCarbon pricing

A direct price on greenhouse gas emissions (or a carbon-content proxy), distinct from allowance trading.

Beginner: A fixed tax per tonne of emissions, unlike an ETS where the price comes from trading permits.

CBAMTrade

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: an EU border measure that applies carbon costs to selected imported goods.

Beginner: An EU charge on certain carbon-intensive imports so foreign producers face a carbon cost closer to EU industry.

CoverageCarbon pricing

Share of national (or jurisdictional) emissions subject to a carbon pricing instrument, as reported in source inventories.

Beginner: How much of a jurisdiction’s emissions sit under a tax or ETS, as reported by the source inventory.

CreditingCarbon pricing

Offset or credit mechanisms that issue units for verified mitigation; tracked separately from taxes and ETS in the World Bank inventory.

Beginner: Programs that issue credits for verified emission reductions. Tracked apart from taxes and ETS in the World Bank list.

Article 6.2Carbon pricing

Paris Agreement cooperative approaches that allow countries to transfer mitigation outcomes bilaterally. DECARB lists World Bank Excel rows (for example JCM / IPCOS), not a full UNFCCC registry.

Beginner: A Paris Agreement track for countries to transfer mitigation outcomes between themselves. Here you see World Bank-listed agreements, not the full UN registry.

NDCHome

Nationally Determined Contribution: a country’s Paris Agreement climate pledge. Climate Watch profiles may appear on country hubs; DECARB does not ship a full NDC text corpus.

Beginner: A country’s official climate pledge under the Paris Agreement.

LeakageTrade

Shift of emissions or production toward jurisdictions with weaker carbon policy. DECARB shows pricing-asymmetry exposure (observed trade × inventory instrument presence) on /trade/leakage — not an invented leakage percentage.

Beginner: When production might move to places with weaker carbon rules. DECARB shows exposure indicators, not a leakage %.

Embedded CO₂Trade

Greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing traded goods, used when discussing border carbon exposure.

Beginner: The emissions tied to making a traded product, used when estimating border carbon costs.

HS codeTrade

Harmonized System commodity classification. Free trade ingest often uses WITS, World Bank merchandise, or IMF DOTS prefixes instead of licensed Comtrade rows.

Beginner: An international product code used in trade statistics.

WITSTrade

World Bank World Integrated Trade Solution: primary free merchandise trade source in DECARB (SITC groups).

Beginner: World Bank’s free merchandise trade database. Primary trade source in DECARB.

ICPCorporate

Internal carbon price: a corporate fee or shadow price used in investment or planning decisions, when disclosed.

Beginner: A company’s own carbon price for planning or investment decisions, shown only when the firm discloses it.

Revenue allocationRevenue

How governments channel carbon pricing receipts (dividends, infrastructure, transit, general budget). Splits may use equal shares when source text is silent.

Beginner: Where carbon tax or ETS auction money goes: rebates, green spend, transit, or the general budget.

Revenue recyclingRevenue

Returning or redirecting carbon pricing receipts into the economy (for example dividends or green spending) rather than treating them only as net fiscal take.

Beginner: Putting carbon pricing revenue back into households or public programs instead of only raising net tax take.

Gini coefficientRevenue

A standard inequality measure from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality). Used in the revenue incidence view as a simple indicator, not a full welfare model.

Beginner: A 0–1 score of inequality (0 = equal, 1 = unequal). Used here as a simple indicator, not a full welfare model.

IncidenceRevenue

Who gains or bears costs from a policy. In the revenue module, quintile incidence is a simplified benefit view, distinct from the Gini summary.

Beginner: Which income groups gain or lose from a policy. Here it is a simplified view by income fifths.

QuintileRevenue

One fifth of an income distribution. Revenue incidence views can show projected shares by quintile.

Beginner: One fifth of households ordered by income (poorest fifth to richest fifth).

BRTMunicipal

Bus Rapid Transit: high-capacity bus corridors often used in municipal transport policy cases.

Beginner: High-capacity bus corridors with dedicated lanes, often used in city transport cases.

PM2.5Municipal

Fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 µm. Municipal baselines use OpenAQ or Open-Meteo readings in µg/m³ when available.

Beginner: Tiny airborne particles that can go deep into the lungs. Lower µg/m³ means cleaner air for that reading.

NO₂Municipal

Nitrogen dioxide, a traffic- and combustion-related pollutant. Municipal baselines report ambient NO₂ in µg/m³ from OpenAQ or Open-Meteo when available.

Beginner: A gas linked to traffic and combustion, reported in micrograms per cubic metre.

WB PM2.5 exposureMunicipal

World Bank Open Data indicator EN.ATM.PM25.MC.M3: mean annual population-weighted PM2.5 exposure for the country (not a city station reading).

Beginner: A World Bank country average for yearly PM2.5 exposure. It is not the same as a city station snapshot.

Urban population %Municipal

World Bank Open Data indicator SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS: share of the national population living in urban areas.

Beginner: Share of the country population that lives in cities and towns (World Bank).

IPAT / KayaSimulator

Identity linking Impact to Population × Affluence × Technology (Kaya form for CO₂). The simulator maps lever groups loosely to this identity; it is not an OWID historical grapher.

Beginner: A simple identity: emissions scale with population, wealth, and technology. The simulator groups levers loosely this way.

Paris goalsSimulator

UNFCCC Paris Agreement temperature goals (1.5 °C and well below 2 °C). The simulator reports gaps to these fixed markers.

Beginner: Paris Agreement goals to limit warming to 1.5 °C and well below 2 °C.

IPCC AR6 markerSimulator

A cited current-policies warming median from IPCC AR6 used as a fixed reference on the simulator gauge. Not a probabilistic uncertainty band around the linear pathway.

Beginner: A fixed warming reference from IPCC AR6 current-policies estimates, used on the simulator gauge.

ProjectedSimulator

Model output under documented coefficients, not observed MRV or forecast-grade system dynamics.

Beginner: Model output under documented coefficients, not measured emissions or a forecast-grade model.

IEASimulator

International Energy Agency. The simulator anchors fuel shares to IEA World Energy Balances 2022 total primary energy supply (TPES).

Beginner: International Energy Agency. Fuel shares here start from IEA 2022 world energy data.

TPESSimulator

Total primary energy supply: all energy entering the economy before conversion losses. Shares in the mix chart use IEA 2022 TPES as the baseline.

Beginner: Total primary energy supply: the energy entering the world economy before conversion losses. The faint bars use IEA 2022 as the baseline.

Shared scenarioShare

A URL that carries country focus and selected levers across modules (`/s`). Simulator projections remain global even when a country code is present.

Beginner: A shareable URL that keeps your country focus and levers across modules. The simulator stays global-only.

GHGLearn

Greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere (CO₂, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases among others). Policy instruments often price or cap CO₂-equivalent totals.

Beginner: Gases that warm the planet by trapping heat. Climate policy often tracks them as a CO₂-equivalent total.

CO₂eLearn

Carbon dioxide equivalent: a common unit that converts different greenhouse gases into a CO₂-warming basis using published global warming potentials.

Beginner: A way to count different greenhouse gases as if they were CO₂, so totals are comparable.

DecarbonizationLearn

Reducing or eliminating CO₂ (and often other GHG) emissions from energy, industry, transport, and land use while maintaining economic activity.

Beginner: Cutting the carbon emissions tied to how we power, build, move, and grow.

Carbon pricingCarbon pricing

Putting a monetary cost on greenhouse gas emissions, usually via a carbon tax or an emissions trading system (ETS). Crediting is related but tracked separately in World Bank inventories.

Beginner: Making pollution cost money—usually with a tax per tonne or a market for emission permits.

Net zeroLearn

A balance in which residual greenhouse gas emissions are matched by durable removals over a stated scope and timeframe. Definitions vary by actor; DECARB does not certify corporate claims.

Beginner: Aiming for remaining emissions to be matched by removals. Exact definitions differ by country or company.

MitigationLearn

Actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or enhance sinks (for example cleaner power, efficiency, or avoided deforestation).

Beginner: Cutting emissions or increasing carbon uptake so less warming gas stays in the air.

AdaptationLearn

Adjusting human and natural systems to actual or expected climate impacts (heat, floods, drought, sea-level rise) to reduce harm.

Beginner: Preparing for climate impacts already happening or expected—heat, floods, drought, rising seas.

UNFCCCLegal

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992): the parent treaty for global climate negotiations, including annual COP sessions.

Beginner: The main UN climate treaty from 1992. Countries meet under it each year at COP.

COPLegal

Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC: the annual decision-making meeting of Parties. Numbered sessions (COP21, COP28, …) adopt negotiated outcomes.

Beginner: The big yearly UN climate meeting where countries negotiate decisions.

Kyoto ProtocolLegal

1997 protocol under the UNFCCC that set binding emission targets for listed developed-country Parties for commitment periods. Superseded in practice by the Paris Agreement’s universal NDC approach, but still historically important for ETS and flexible mechanisms.

Beginner: An earlier climate treaty (1997) with targets mainly for developed countries. Paris later shifted to pledges from all Parties.

Paris AgreementLegal

2015 treaty under the UNFCCC. Parties submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and pursue temperature goals of limiting warming to well below 2 °C and pursuing 1.5 °C. Article 6 covers cooperative approaches and markets.

Beginner: The 2015 global climate deal: countries set their own pledges (NDCs) and aim to limit warming to well below 2 °C, pursuing 1.5 °C.

Loss and damageLegal

Climate impacts that go beyond what adaptation can avoid. COP27 established a funding arrangement; further operational decisions followed at later COPs. DECARB does not model fund disbursements.

Beginner: Harm from climate impacts that cannot fully be adapted away, plus the international fund track negotiated under the UNFCCC.

Climate litigationLegal

Court and tribunal cases that use climate science and law (constitutional, human-rights, administrative, tort, or international) to challenge or compel climate-related action. Holdings are jurisdiction-specific; always read the judgment.

Beginner: Lawsuits that use courts to push governments or companies on climate duties. Outcomes depend on each country’s law.

MRVLearn

Monitoring, reporting, and verification of emissions or mitigation outcomes. Distinct from DECARB’s “projected” sandbox outputs.

Beginner: Systems that measure, report, and check real emissions or reductions—not model projections.

AuctioningETS

Selling ETS allowances to the highest bidder instead of giving them away. Auction revenue is a common input to revenue-allocation debates.

Beginner: Selling emission permits at auction rather than giving them free. Governments can spend or rebate the money.

Free allocationETS

Giving ETS allowances to covered entities at no charge, often to cushion competitiveness or leakage concerns. Contrasts with auctioning.

Beginner: Handing out emission permits for free, often to protect trade-exposed industry.

Just transitionRevenue

Policy framing that pairs decarbonization with support for workers and communities affected by the shift away from high-carbon activity.

Beginner: Cutting emissions while helping workers and places that depend on high-carbon jobs.

Scope 1 / 2 / 3Corporate

GHG Protocol categories: Scope 1 = direct emissions; Scope 2 = purchased electricity/heat; Scope 3 = value-chain emissions. Corporate ICP disclosures may reference these scopes without DECARB inventing inventories.

Beginner: A common way firms group emissions: own stacks (1), bought power (2), and the wider value chain (3).

Shadow priceCorporate

An internal planning price for carbon used in investment appraisal even when no cash carbon fee is paid. A common form of corporate ICP.

Beginner: A planning carbon price used in decisions even if the company is not paying that fee in cash.

Point of decisionLearn

A moment where a policy, investment, or design choice changes emissions path (instrument design, border measure, revenue split, city fee, corporate ICP, or pathway lever). DECARB modules surface data for those choices; they do not prescribe a single “correct” decision.

Beginner: A real choice point—tax vs ETS, border rate, revenue mix, city fee, company carbon price, or pathway lever—where data can inform the call.