"NetZero" is not about Basketball

With any topic there are some words and terms that are important.

Here are a few:

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) or Carbon Capture Utilization or Storage (CCUS) refers to this technology of capturing carbon and using it to make a product (think carbonated beverages) or storing it long term in underground land formations. CCS/CCUS technologies are quite varied and somewhat controversial. Carbon can be naturally captured from the atmosphere by trees and plants and stored in the soil. This works well, but many are concerned that it is not a permanent solution. At some point, the forests and soils could be disturbed, releasing all that stored carbon. Not what we want.

Carbon Footprint refers to the quantification of our carbon dioxide emissions. It includes the equivalent carbon dioxide from other greenhouse gasses.

Carbon Negative is capturing more carbon than we emit. This could be on an individual basis or a company basis, a country basis or a global basis. To get our climate back to normal we would need to be carbon negative for several years.

Carbon Offsetting is the term used to describe the trading of carbon emitted for carbon captured. If I am have reduced my emissions to 1000 kg and I want to be Net-Zero I would need to capture 1000 kg of carbon to offset my emissions.

Carbon-Zero means not emitting any carbon.

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is when carbon (carbon dioxide) is captured directly from the air (or industrial processes that emit carbon). Some of these technologies capture the carbon chemically and store it underground or bind it to other materials permanently. DAC is good, but expensive.

Greenhouse Gasses (GHGs) are the gasses in the atmosphere that trap energy from the sun. The most common greenhouse gas is water vapor. This is very short lived as it is part of the water cycle. Other common GHGs are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide. These all have different lifespans in the atmosphere and therefore impact climate change differently. We standardize the global warming impact by converting these impacts to equivalent carbon dioxide impacts.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method to quantify the environmental or social impacts of a product. The quantification can include all phases of the product, referred to as cradle to grave, or just one phase of the product. A cradle-to-grave LCA tracks these impacts from the raw materials used in the product through the final disposal of the product (e.g., landfill)

Net-Zero is not a reference to missing the net! It is a term used to note the balance of carbon emissions from a company or product. Net-Zero refers to emitting less carbon, and any carbon that is emitted is captured and stored. It is Net-Zero because the ledger shows carbon captured is equal to carbon emitted.

Slowing climate change requires less carbon in the atmosphere. The first order of business is to reduce new carbon entering the fast carbon cycle (see Climate Science). This means no more extraction and burning of fossil fuels. From there, the goal is to start removing historic carbon from the fast carbon cycle - carbon that was in the ground (fossil fuels) but has been released in the last 100 or so years. If a company has a goal of Net-Zero by 2030, it means they will likely do there best to reduce their emissions and whatever emissions are left they will OFFSET using some CCS technology. Basically, paying someone else to plant trees to absorb the same amount of carbon that they are emitting.