What is meant by ‘balancing sources and sinks of greenhouse gases’ to limit global temperature rise?
The Paris Agreement from the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2015 states that by 2050-2100, there should be a “balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases” (GHGs) to limit the global mean temperature rise to less than 2˚C relative to the pre-industrial climate. The purpose of this briefing note is to clarify what a ‘balance’ of greenhouse gases means in the context of the Paris Agreement and to discuss how this could be achieved.