Glossary of Terms

Adaptation: Includes any initiatives or actions in response to actual or projected climate change impacts and which reduce the effects of climate change on built, natural and social systems.

Adaptive Capacity: The ability of built, natural and social systems to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes), to moderate potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences.

Climate: The weather of a place averaged over a period of time, often 30 years. Climate information includes the statistical weather information that tells us about the normal weather, as well as the range of weather extremes for a location.

Climate Change: Climate change refers to changes in long-term weather patterns caused by natural phenomena and human activities that alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the build-up of greenhouse gases which trap heat and reflect it back to the earth’s surface.

Climate Projections: Climate projections are a projection of the response of the climate system to emissions or concentration scenarios of greenhouse gases and aerosols. These projections depend upon the climate change (or emission) scenario used, which are based on assumptions concerning future socioeconomic and technological developments that may or may not be realized and are therefore subject to uncertainty.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions: Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of thermal infrared radiation, emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the six primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere in order of abundance.

Climate Impact: The effects of existing or forecast changes in climate on built, natural, and human systems. One can distinguish between potential impacts (impacts that may occur given a projected change in climate, without considering adaptation) and residual impacts (impacts of climate change that would occur after adaptation)

Impact Statement: Climate-related impact statements are concise statements that outline locally-relevant projected threats and how those changes are expected to affect the built, natural, social, and economic systems of the municipality.

Mitigation: The promotion of policy, regulatory and project-based measures that contribute to the stabilization or reduction of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Renewable energy programs, energy efficiency frameworks and substitution of fossil fuels are examples of climate change mitigation measures.

Resilience: The capacity of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to adapt, by resisting or changing in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure.