Terms used in Slate
Glossary
The vocabulary of the platform and the standards behind it, in plain language.
In the platform
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Activity record | One thing you did that emits or avoids emissions: a fuel purchase, a meter reading, a journey, a tonnage. |
| Calculated emission | The result row written when a record is calculated: gas amounts, CO₂e, scope, and provenance. |
| Facility | A site you report for. Its country (and province, for Canada) can decide which factor is used. |
| Reporting year | The period records are grouped into. One is active at a time. |
| Factor source | A publisher whose factors Slate can use: UK DEFRA, US EPA, EPA WARM, IPCC, Canada ECCC, Ember. |
| Source order | Your ranked list of publishers. The first that can answer wins. |
| Release | A publisher's edition of its factors (for example a year's DEFRA conversion factors). |
| Pinning | Fixing a period to a specific release so later editions don't change past results. |
| Provenance | The recorded trail from a result to the publisher's row, edition, GWP set and sources asked. |
| Calculation job | The background task that runs a calculation. You can keep working while it runs. |
| Analysis (waste, water) | A self-contained set of records and results for a facility and period. |
| Reporting asset | A disposal site, land parcel or forest stand needed by the landfill and land categories. |
In the science
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| CO₂e | Carbon dioxide equivalent: each gas converted to the CO₂ with the same warming effect over a time horizon. |
| GWP | Global warming potential: the conversion multiplier for a gas. Different IPCC assessment reports (AR2–AR6) give different values. |
| GWP set | A chosen assessment report's values, applied consistently. See GWP sets. |
| Scope 1 | Direct emissions from sources you own or control. |
| Scope 2 | Indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat and cooling. |
| Scope 3 | Other indirect emissions across your value chain. |
| Location-based | Scope 2 using the average intensity of the grid where you consume. |
| Market-based | Scope 2 reflecting your contracts and certificates. |
| Well-to-tank (WTT) | Upstream emissions of extracting, refining and delivering a fuel. |
| T&D losses | Energy lost between generator and meter, and the emissions behind it. |
| Biogenic CO₂ | CO₂ from recently grown biomass, reported separately from the scopes. |
| Tier 1 / 2 / 3 | IPCC detail levels: default factors, country-specific data, or a measured or modelled approach. |
For how each is used in calculation, see Scopes 1, 2 and 3 and CO₂e and gas basis.