Insights
Clear definitions of the sustainability, climate, and ESG terms that matter most — from CBAM and CSRD to SBTi and PCAF. Written by Semtrio's advisory team.
CBAM is a European Union mechanism that prices the carbon content of certain goods imported from outside the EU, requiring non-EU producers to provide verified embedded emissions data and EU importers to purchase carbon certificates equivalent to the carbon cost that would have applied under the EU Emissions Trading System.
A carbon credit is a tradable instrument representing one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent that a project has reduced, avoided or removed from the atmosphere, verified against a recognised standard and issued into a registry.
CDP is a global non-profit organization that operates the world's largest environmental disclosure system — through which companies, cities, and regions report their environmental data on climate change, water security, and forests — with scores from D to A used by over 740 financial institutions and procurement organizations to assess environmental performance, risk exposure, and management quality.
Carbon intensity is greenhouse gas emissions expressed per unit of activity — per tonne of product, per megawatt hour, per unit of revenue — allowing organisations or products of different sizes to be compared.
Carbon neutrality is a claim that an organisation, product or event has brought its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero over a defined period, typically by purchasing carbon credits equal to the emissions it has measured — with no required reduction trajectory attached.
Carbon offsetting is the act of compensating for emissions an organisation has produced by permanently retiring an equivalent quantity of carbon credits — a use of credits, and distinct from the credit itself.
CORSIA — the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation — is the ICAO's global market-based measure requiring airlines to monitor their international CO₂ emissions and offset the growth above a defined baseline by buying and cancelling eligible carbon credits.
If you're working through a regulatory framework or sustainability challenge and need clarity on a specific term or concept — our team is here to help directly.
