Environmental Impact Flashcards

Which greenhouse gas has the highest 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP) among those commonly tracked in carbon audits?

Answer: Sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆)

SF₆ has a 100-year GWP of approximately 23,500, making it the most potent GHG commonly tracked under the Kyoto Protocol basket.

In life cycle assessment (LCA), which phase typically contributes the most to the carbon footprint of a manufactured steel product?

Answer: Raw material extraction and processing

For steel, raw material extraction and the energy-intensive smelting process (especially blast furnace operations) dominate the product's lifecycle carbon emissions.

What does the concept of 'carbon sequestration' refer to in environmental impact assessments?

Answer: The process of capturing and storing atmospheric CO₂

Carbon sequestration is the long-term capture and storage of atmospheric CO₂ in reservoirs such as forests, soils, oceans, or geological formations.

A company's Scope 3 emissions include which of the following?

Answer: Business air travel by employees

Employee business travel is a Scope 3 Category 6 emission because it occurs in assets not owned or controlled by the reporting company.

Which land-use change activity is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions according to the IPCC?

Answer: Deforestation of tropical rainforests

Tropical deforestation releases enormous amounts of stored carbon and eliminates carbon sinks, making it one of the largest land-use emission sources globally.

When assessing the environmental impact of aviation emissions, auditors apply a Radiative Forcing Index (RFI) because:

Answer: Non-CO₂ effects at altitude amplify the climate impact beyond CO₂ alone

Aviation's non-CO₂ effects — contrail formation, ozone creation, and cirrus cloud impacts at high altitude — multiply its effective climate warming beyond the CO₂ emissions alone.

Which metric best quantifies the long-term environmental impact of a single molecule of methane compared to CO₂?

Answer: Global Warming Potential (GWP)

GWP expresses how much heat a greenhouse gas traps over a specific time horizon (typically 20 or 100 years) relative to CO₂, enabling comparison of different gases.