Abandoned Well – A well is considered abandoned when it has reached the end of its useful life and the company or operator of record cannot be found or has gone bankrupt.

Accredited Investor – An investor that meets prescribed criteria set forth by financial regulating entities.

ACR – American Carbon Registry oversees the registration and verification of carbon offset projects following approved carbon accounting methodologies or protocols and issues offsets on a transparent registry system. Each offset represents the reduction or removal of carbon from the atmosphere, equivalent to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide.

Anthropogenic CO2 – Man-made source of carbon dioxide.

BECCS – Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage – the process of extracting bioenergy from biomass and capturing and storing the carbon, thereby removing it from the atmosphere.

Biochar – Carbon rich charcoal substance produced by heating biomass in a low oxygen environment.

Biochar Materials Sourcing – The first step in the supply chain. It’s about finding the balance between the quality of the physical properties of the biochar needed, the percentage carbon content, shipping distance and the affordability.

Biodiversity – The variety of all life (plants, animals, microorganisms, etc.) in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Biomass – Any plant-based or organic material which extracts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows.

Biowaste – Also known as biodegradable waste. It consists mainly of organic materials such as green waste, food waste, animal by-products, sewage, and biodegradable plastics.

Carbon Avoidance Offsets – A carbon offset credit that is created which represents one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent that is prevented from being emitted into the atmosphere.

Carbon Capture – Includes any process for capturing carbon dioxide.

Carbon Credits – A Measurable, verifiable emissions unit that is issued by a carbon crediting program and represents an emission reduction or removal of greenhouse gases. Carbon credits are uniquely serialized, issued, tracked, and cancelled by means of an electronic registry.

Carbon Cycle – The circular movement of carbon in various forms as it is recycled and reused throughout nature.

Carbon Dioxide – A greenhouse gas that is natural and harmless in small quantities and necessary for sustainable life on Earth.

Carbon Footprint – The total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).

Carbon Offset Credit – A transferrable instrument certified by governments or independent certification bodies to represent an emission reduction of one metric tonne of CO2, or an equivalent amount of other GHGs.

Carbon Removal – The process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locking it away for decades, centuries, or millennia.

Carbon Rich Amendments – An organic material added to a soil to improve its physical properties, water retention, permeability, aeration, etc.

Carbon Neutral – Carbon neutral describes an entity or process that does not emit more carbon dioxide than it captures.

Carbon Sequestration – The long-term storage of carbon in plants, soil, geologic formation and the ocean.

CASPER Methodology – Carbon Sink Plug and Environmental Remediation – OFX EcoSolutions proprietary Methodology that incorporates carbon rich materials in our plugging and remediation operations that create durable/long-term carbon removal credits.

C&D – Construction and Demolition

CCS – Carbon Capture and Sequestration or Carbon Capture and Storage

CCU – Carbon Capture and Use

CDR – Carbon Dioxide Removal

Certified Biochar – Biochar produced in accordance with the prescribed standards of Internationally recognized certifying bodies that fulfils all the requirements of sustainable production and a positive carbon footprint. These standards guarantee ecologically sustainable procurement and production of biomass feedstock for biochar production, compliance with emission standards and environmentally safe storage. Biochar quality is comprehensively monitored, documented and independently controlled and is in compliance with all threshold values related to the Ordinance on Soil Protection.

Certified Sources – Manufactures that comply with prescribed standards of sustainable production. Product from certified sources is eligible for carbon offsets

Circularity – The intentional design of a system in which a product is created with its own end-of-life considered in a circular process.

CO2E – Carbon Dioxide Equivalent – Term used to compare different gases in a common unit. One unit mass of CO2e has the same atmospheric impact as one unit mass of CO2 based on the GWP of the gas.

Comprehensive Service Contract – An agreement where the contractor commits to perform all aspects of a project from start to finish.

C-Sink – “Carbon Sink”. Anything that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

DAC – Direct Air Capture – technology that pulls in atmospheric air, runs it through a series of chemical reactions to extract the CO2, then returns the rest of the air back to the environment.

Durability – Permanence over time.

Ecofriendly – Not harmful to the environment. Anything that has a positive effect on living things.

Emissions Avoidance – Activities aimed at reducing and avoiding carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions.

Emissions Detection – The action or process of identifying the presence of escaping gases via enclosure chambers, tracer techniques, “sniffer” techniques, and handheld laser detectors.

Emissions Monitoring – The on-going collection and use of measurement data for assessing the amount and content of gases emitting from source.

EPA – Environmental Protection Agency

ESG – Environmental Sustainability Goals

ETS – Emissions Trading System –

GHG – Greenhouse Gases – Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere

Governance – The system by which an organization is controlled and operates, and the mechanisms by which it, and its people, are held to account. Ethics, risk management, compliance and administration are all elements of governance.

GWP – Global Warming Potential

Hydrocarbon – Is any of a class of organic chemicals made up of only the elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) and the term is generally used to refer to any nature-based fossil fuel used to create energy.

Infrastructure Bill – $1.2 trillion bill that includes a package which provides $21 billion to be use in Environmental remediation and the reclamation of abandoned mine lands and to plug orphaned oil & gas wells.

IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.

Joint Venture – A temporary partnership that two companies form to gain mutual benefits by sharing costs, risks and rewards.

Long Term Storage – Carbon storage for a period of 10 years or more.

Labile – Unstable, readily or continually undergoing physical change or decomposition.

MSW – Municipal Solid Waste

Methane – Primary component of natural gas (CH4) and a potent greenhouse gas.

Natives (Plants) – Plant species that are native to a given environment or ecosystem and part of the balance of nature throughout the history of that region.

Net Negative Emissions – A process produces net-negative emissions if it removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits.

Orphan Well – Abandoned wells that have no responsible operator. Governmental agencies  or the public are responsible for cost of plugging and the restoration the surrounding surface area.

P&A Firm – Companies whose operations include placing permanent cement plugs in wellbores that have reached the end of their useful lifetime to isolate and thus protect the reservoir and other fluid/water bearing formations.

Proprietary Methodology – Intellectual operational procedures that have been submitted for patent certification.

Puro.earth – Internationally recognized carbon offset verifying organization.

Pyrolysis – The heating of biomass in the absence of oxygen to produce a carbon rich charcoal substance called biochar.

Reclamation – The act of process of restoration to a previous state.

Remediation – The act of reversing or stopping environmental damage.

RFP – Request for Proposal

RFQ – Request for Qualifications

Scaling Up – To increase in amount or production.

SDG – Sustainable Development Goals – The IPCC defined 17 goals to act as a blueprint to a better and more sustainable future for all.

State Block Grants – Federally appropriate monies that are allocated to each state, per their need, to be distributed by state, local or municipal authorities.

Supply & Demand – An economic model of price determination of a commodity predicated on the buyers demand for that product.

Sustainability – The ability to prevent the depletion of natural resources today, so that they will remain available for future generations.

Voluntary Carbon Market – A decentralized market where private actors voluntarily buy and sell carbon credits that represent certified removals or reductions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere.

Waste Streams – The complete flow of waste from its domestic or industrial source through to recovery, recycling, or final disposition.

Woman-owned Business – A business which, at least a 51% majority, is owned by a woman or women. To qualify, a woman must be active in the daily operations of the business, as well as the hiring process.