Carbon negative
Also called: Climate positive · Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A country or firm is carbon negative when it removes more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than it emits. The removal can happen through forests, soils or technology that captures carbon. Its net effect on the climate is therefore a reduction in greenhouse gases in the air. This goes one step beyond net zero, where emissions and removals exactly balance.
Example
Bhutan and Suriname are carbon negative. Both are small economies with large forest cover, so their forests absorb more carbon than their economies emit. India's target is only net zero, by 2070.
Don't confuse with
- Net zero: all greenhouse gas emissions are balanced by removals, so the net figure is zero. Carbon negative means removals are larger than emissions.
- Carbon neutrality: net carbon dioxide emissions are zero. It covers CO2 only, not all greenhouse gases.
Related concepts
- Common but differentiated responsibilities
- Nationally determined contributions
- Carbon intensity
- Net zero
- Carbon neutrality
- Climate finance
- New collective quantified goal
- Adaptation finance
- Loss and damage