Committee on Climate Change
Independent advisors to the UK Government on tackling and preparing for climate change
Glossary of climate change: G
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| G8 countries |
A forum for governments of the eight richest countries in the world to discuss key issues. |
| Generic Design Assessment (GDA) |
Generic Design Assessment, also know as pre-licensing, is intended to ensure that the technical aspects of designs for nuclear power plants are considered ahead of site-specific license applications. |
| Global Temperature Potential |
A means for measuring the radiative effect of emissions based on the effect on the global mean surface temperature at some future point in time. |
| Global Warming Potential |
A metric for comparing the climate effect of different greenhouse gases, all of which have different lifetimes in the atmosphere and differeing abilities to absorb radiation. The GWP is calculated as the intergrated radiative forcing of a given gas over a given time period, relative to that of carbon dioxide. Standard international reporting processes use a time period of 100 years. |
| GLOCAF |
The Global Carbon Finance model was developed by the Office of Climate Change to look at the costs to different countries of moving to a low carbon global economy, and the kind of international financial flows this might generate. |
| Great circle distance (GCD) |
A defintion of the shortest flight distance between two point, taking the curve of the Earth's surface into account. |
| Greenhouse gas (GHG) |
Any atmospheric gas (either natural or anthropogenic in origin) which absorbs thermal radiation emitted by the Earth |
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) |
A measure of the total economic activity occurring in the UK. |
| Gross Value Added (GVA) |
The difference between output and intermediate consumption for any given sector/industry. |
| Gt |
A gigatonne or 1000 million tonnes. |
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