Net zero carbon emissions
Keeping 1.5°C Alive: Closing the Gap in the 2020s, version 1.0, published by the Energy Transitions Commission in September 2021, defines Net-zero-carbon-emissions (or net-zero carbon or net-zero): as terms used: ‘…interchangeably to describe the situation in which the energy and industrial system as a whole or a specific economic sector releases no CO2 emissions – either because it doesn’t produce any or because it captures the CO2 it produces to use or store. In this situation, the use of offsets from other sectors (‘real net-zero’) should be extremely limited and used only to compensate for residual emissions from imperfect levels of carbon capture, unavoidable end-of-life emissions, or remaining emissions from the agriculture sector.'
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