Greenhouse gasses (GHGs) are gasses that have the ability to capture heat in our atmosphere. There are more than 30 different greenhouse gases, all with different levels of heating potential which scientists call Global Warming Potential (GWP).

For example, Carbon Dioxide is the GHG that is most commonly found in our atmosphere but Methane - another GHG - is almost 30 times more powerful than Carbon Dioxide.

In order to create a common language to understand the impact that these gases have together, we convert them into the most common greenhouse gas; Carbon Dioxide.

<aside> 🐾 Fun Fact Different activities like driving your car or burning a fire release all sorts of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) at once. While emissions are reported by converting all GHGs into CO2e, we store gas breakdowns for you!

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One tonne of Methane can be converted into Carbon Dioxide by multiplying one tonne Methane by it’s Global Warming Potential (GWP). In this case, one tonne of methane would be converted into 30 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2e). This is shortened to CO2e, which is what you will see throughout the Carbonhound App.

Except that it isn’t carbon dioxide at all! So we use Carbon Dioxide equivalent to show that a conversion has occurred from the original gas.

The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of these other greenhouse gases into CO2e are defined in Assessment Reports (AR) that are released every few years by the IPCC. The IPCC scientists change Global Warming Potential (GWP) values over time as the they get better at understanding their impact.

See the Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) of all greenhouse gasses over the last few Assessment Reports: https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/ghgp/Global-Warming-Potential-Values (Feb 16 2016)_1.pdf