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In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities.
In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects.
See IPCC glossary
A naturally occurring gas, CO2 is also a by-product of burning fossil fuels (such as oil, gas and coal), of burning biomass, of land-use changes (LUCs) and of industrial processes (e.g., cement production).
It is the principal anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) that affects the Earth’s radiative balance. It is the reference gas against which other GHGs are measured and therefore has a global warming potential (GWP) of 1.
See IPCC glossary
Anthropogenic activities removing CO2 from the atmosphere and durably storing it in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products.
It includes existing and potential anthropogenic enhancement of biological or geochemical sinks and direct air capture and storage but excludes natural CO2 uptake not directly caused by human activities.
See IPCC glossary
A plausible description of how the future may develop based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about key driving forces (eg, rate of technological change, prices) and relationships. Note that scenarios are neither predictions nor forecasts, but are used to provide a view of the implications of developments and actions.
See IPCC glossary
Climate-related scenarios are intended to provide an opportunity for entities to develop their internal capacity to better understand and prepare for the uncertain future impacts of climate change.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
A simple representation of a system focused on the relationship you expect to see between your variables.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
Deriving local climate information from larger-scale model or observational data. Two main methods exist – statistical and dynamical.
Statistical methods develop statistical relationships between large-scale atmospheric variables (eg, circulation and moisture variations) and local climate variables (eg, rainfall variations).
Dynamical methods use the output of a regional climate/weather model driven by a larger-scale global model.
See Glossary of abbreviation and terms in Climate change projections and impacts for the Bay of Plenty Region [NIWA website]
Driving forces (also known as ‘drivers’) are typically broad scale factors which influence the direction of future change.
Understanding which driving forces will have the greatest influence in shaping outcomes for your organisation is an essential step in creating climate-related scenarios.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
A projected development in time of the emission of a greenhouse gas (GHG) or group of GHGs, aerosols, and GHG precursors.
The External Reporting Board is responsible for developing and issuing climate reporting standards for entities across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in Aotearoa. The XRB issued New Zealand’s first Climate-related Disclosure Standards in December 2022.
A question that guides a project or a process by providing clarity, direction, and boundaries. A focal question should be specific, short, precise, and reflect the desired outcome and the domain of the project.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
Gas in the atmosphere, which may have natural or human causes, that absorbs and emits radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of radiation emitted by the Earth’s oceans and land surfaces, by the atmosphere itself and by clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect.
The main greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere are water vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and ozone. Human-made greenhouse gases include sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons.
See Urutau, ka taurikura: Kia tū pakari a Aotearoa i ngā huringa āhuarangi — Adapt and thrive: Building a climate-resilient New Zealand [PDF, 7 MB]
The sum of gross value added, at purchasers’ prices, by all resident and non-resident producers in the economy, plus any taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products in a country or a geographic region for a given period, normally one year. GDP is calculated without deducting for depreciation of fabricated assets or depletion and degradation of natural resources.
See IPCC glossary
The United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
The IPCC is organised into three working groups and a task force:
- Working Group I (WGI) – physical science basis
- Working Group II (WGII) – impacts, adaptation and vulnerability
- Working Group III (WGIII) – mitigation
- Task Force on national greenhouse gas inventories.
See Urutau, ka taurikura: Kia tū pakari a Aotearoa i ngā huringa āhuarangi — Adapt and thrive: Building a climate-resilient New Zealand [PDF, 7 MB]
The IEA provides authoritative analysis, data, policy recommendations, and real-world solutions to help countries provide secure and sustainable energy for all. Their core activity is to provide advice to its 31 member states and 11 associated countries to advance the transition to clean energy.
A set of principles, processes and practices that aim to ensure that no people, workers, places, sectors, countries or regions are left behind in the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy.
It stresses the need for targeted and proactive measures from governments, agencies and authorities to ensure that any negative social, environmental or economic impacts of economy-wide transitions are minimised, while benefits are maximised for those disproportionally affected.
Key principles of just transitions include: respect and dignity for vulnerable groups; fairness in energy access and use, social dialogue and democratic consultation with relevant stakeholders; the creation of decent jobs; social protection; and rights at work.
Just transitions could include fairness in energy, land use and climate planning and decision-making processes; economic diversification based on low-carbon investments; realistic training/retraining programs that lead to decent work; gender-specific policies that promote equitable outcomes; the fostering of international cooperation and coordinated multilateral actions; and the eradication of poverty.
Lastly, just transitions may embody the redressing of past harms and perceived injustices (ILO 2015; UNFCCC 2016).
See See IPCC glossary
In the context of climate change, a human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.
See Urutau, ka taurikura: Kia tū pakari a Aotearoa i ngā huringa āhuarangi — Adapt and thrive: Building a climate-resilient New Zealand [PDF, 7 MB]
NIWA, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, is a Crown Research Institute established in 1992.
NIWA’s purpose is to enhance the economic value and sustainable management of New Zealand’s aquatic resources and environments, to provide understanding of climate and the atmosphere and increase resilience to weather and climate hazards to improve safety and wellbeing of New Zealanders.
Each Party to the Paris Agreement must define its contribution to the long-term temperature goals set out in the agreement, in the form of an NDC.
See Aotearoa New Zealand's first emissions reduction plan [PDF, 7.2 MB]
A group of central banks (including the Reserve Bank of New Zealand) who develop environment and climate risk management in the financial sector and mobilise mainstream finance to support the transition toward a sustainable economy.
Ground (soil or rock, and included ice and organic material) that remains at or below 0°C for at least two consecutive years (Harris et al., 1988). Note that permafrost is defined via temperature rather than ice content and, in some instances, may be ice-free.
A legally binding international treaty on climate change, which includes provisions on mitigation, adaptation and climate finance among other things.
It was adopted by 196 Parties in Paris in 2015 and entered into force in 2016. One of the goals of the Paris Agreement is “holding the increase in global average temperature to 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”.
See Aotearoa New Zealand's first emissions reduction plan [PDF, 7.2 MB]
Risks related to the physical impacts of climate change. Physical risks emanating from climate change can be event-driven (acute) such as increased severity of extreme weather events. They can also relate to longer-term shifts (chronic) in precipitation and temperature and increased variability in weather patterns, such as sea level rise.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
A process for systematically exploring the effects of a range of plausible future events under conditions of uncertainty. Engaging in this process helps an entity to identify its climate-related risks and opportunities and develop a better understanding of the resilience of its business model and strategy.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
Scenarios, pathways and projections done by others at a global, national, regional or sectoral level. These are the ‘building blocks’ of a scenario architecture.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
Describes the structure made of scenario ‘building blocks’ (archetypes), on which an entity scenario relies.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]
Qualitative descriptions of plausible future world evolutions, describing the characteristics, general logic and developments underlying a particular quantitative set of scenarios. Narratives are also referred to as 'storylines'.
See IPCC glossary
Refers to a segment of organisations performing similar business activities in an economy. A sector generally refers to a large segment of the economy or grouping of business types, while “industry” is used to describe more specific groupings of organisations within a sector.
See Appendix C Glossary in Climate scenarios for the construction and property sector, page 54 [NZGBC website]
A critical threshold beyond which a system reorganises, often abruptly and/or irreversibly.
See IPCC glossary
Risks related to the transition to a low-emissions, climate-resilient global and domestic economy, such as policy, legal, technology, market and reputation changes associated with the mitigation and adaptation requirements relating to climate change.
See Staff guidance: entity scenario development [External Reporting Board website]