The term climate footprint has emerged from the field of carbon footprinting, and refers to a measure of the full set of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) controlled under the Kyoto Protocol. A climate footprint is a more comprehensive measure of anthropogenic impact upon the climate than a carbon footprint, but is also more costly and labour intensive to calculate.
A climate footprint is a measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) emissions of a defined population, system or activity, considering all relevant sources, sinks and storage within the spatial and temporal boundary of the population, system or activity of interest. Calculated as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) using the relevant 100-year global warming potential (GWP100).
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