Fossil fuels such as coal contain carbon and when we burn them (for generating electricity, travel, manufacturing, etc.), they release carbon dioxide (CO_{2<\/sub><\/span>).<\/li>\n}

CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>traps heat from the sun (like a glass roof) and warms the environment, causing heatwaves, droughts, heavy rain, and floods, etc.<\/li>\n}

Now, CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>emissions and their environmental impact can be estimated<\/span><\/a> for a country, a state, a city, a building, or an individual (based on his\/her lifestyle).<\/li>\n}

This estimate is called Carbon Footprint<\/em> and its {tooltip}measurement unit{end-text}It is calculated in terms of CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>equivalent, i.e., while CO_{2<\/sub><\/span> is the most common Greenhouse gases emitted by human activities, but the CO_{2<\/sub><\/span>equivalent unit also considers all other Greenhouse Gases (like methane and nitrous oxide) and puts them in terms of CO_{2<\/sub><\/span>.{end-tooltip} is tonnes (1000 kg), which is usually calculated at an annual level.<\/li>\n}}}}

Going \u2018Carbon Neutral\u2019 means that while the emissions are still being generated, they are offset by the same amount somewhere else.<\/li>\n

E.g., let\u2019s say your carbon footprint (from breathing, the kind of products you use, travel, etc.) is 5 tonnes in a year and one plant\/tree absorbs 2.5 tonnes of CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>in a year.<\/li>\n}

So, at an individual level, you can go carbon neutral just by planting two trees.<\/li>\n

At a country level, just planting trees to offset the total carbon footprint may not be practical (the US alone emitted 5.1 billion metric tonnes<\/span><\/a> of energy-related CO_{2<\/sub><\/span> in 2019).<\/li>\n}

So, governments targeting carbon neutrality are automatically forced to work out options that reduce CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>emissions, to begin with.<\/li>\n}

This means investments in renewable sources of energy at a large scale.<\/li>\n

And then there are investments in processes such as carbon sequestration, which captures and stores the CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>produced in the atmosphere.<\/li>\n}

One way that sequestration works is by capturing CO_{2<\/sub><\/span> at the source and}storing<\/span><\/a> it deep underground (this is called geologic sequestration); plants storing\u00a0CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>is called biologic sequestration.<\/li>\n}

Carbon Neutral is used interchangeably with \u2018Net Zero\u2019 but while Carbon Neutral is about balancing the CO_{2<\/sub><\/span> emissions typically over one year, \u2018Net Zero\u2019 involves offsetting all greenhouse gases (like methane and nitrous oxide).<\/li>\n}

Zero emissions refer to a situation where no CO_{2 <\/sub><\/span>is released, which is almost impossible because even technologies such as solar panels and wind energy are created using manufacturing processes that release CO_{2<\/sub><\/span>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n}}
Also Read:<\/strong>
\nWhat is Paris Climate Agreement?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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