Glossary¶
This glossary defines the key terms used throughout the Carbon Connect platform and documentation. Terms are organized into three categories: Carbon and Sustainability, Funding and Grants, and Technical.
Carbon and Sustainability Terms¶
B Corp¶
A Certified B Corporation is a business that meets high standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. B Corp certification is tracked in Carbon Connect company profiles as a factor in grant matching.
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)¶
An EU regulation that puts a carbon price on imports of certain goods from outside the EU. CBAM creates urgency for export-oriented SMEs to measure and reduce their carbon footprint, increasing demand for tools like Carbon Connect.
Carbon Categories¶
The 14 classification labels Carbon Connect uses to categorize grants and company activities: energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean technology, circular economy, sustainable transport, green buildings, carbon capture, hydrogen, industrial decarbonization, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, water management, waste reduction, and climate adaptation.
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)¶
A global non-profit that runs an environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, and regions. Companies that participate in CDP disclosure demonstrate transparency about their environmental impact. CDP disclosure status is tracked as a certification in Carbon Connect.
Carbon Footprint¶
The total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product, expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e).
Carbon Intensity¶
A metric that normalizes emissions against a business measure, such as revenue (tCO2e per EUR revenue) or headcount (tCO2e per employee). Carbon intensity allows comparison between companies of different sizes.
Climate Adaptation¶
Actions taken to adjust to the effects of climate change, such as flood defenses, drought-resistant agriculture, or heat-resilient infrastructure. One of the six EU Taxonomy environmental objectives.
Climate Mitigation¶
Actions taken to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions, such as renewable energy deployment, energy efficiency improvements, or industrial process optimization. One of the six EU Taxonomy environmental objectives.
Climatiq¶
A carbon intelligence platform that provides emission factor data through an API. Carbon Connect uses Climatiq to convert activity data (kWh, liters, km) into GHG Protocol-compliant emission calculations.
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)¶
An EU directive requiring over 50,000 companies to report on sustainability using standardized European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). The CSRD is expanding in phases from 2024 to 2028, creating demand for carbon measurement and reporting tools.
Emission Factor¶
A coefficient that quantifies the emissions associated with a specific activity. For example, the emission factor for German grid electricity is approximately 0.338 kgCO2e per kWh. Emission factors vary by region, fuel type, and activity.
EU Taxonomy¶
The EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance is a classification system defining which economic activities are environmentally sustainable. It covers six environmental objectives and is used by financial institutions to report on the sustainability of their investments.
European Green Deal¶
The EU's comprehensive strategy to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050. The Green Deal underpins most EU climate funding programs and drives policy across energy, transport, agriculture, industry, and finance.
European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)¶
The standardized reporting framework mandated by the CSRD. Companies must use ESRS to disclose their environmental, social, and governance performance.
Fit for 55¶
The EU's legislative package to achieve a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Fit for 55 includes reforms to emissions trading, renewable energy targets, and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
GHG Protocol¶
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely used international standard for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions. It defines the Scope 1, 2, and 3 framework that Carbon Connect follows.
ISO 14001¶
An international standard for Environmental Management Systems (EMS). Companies with ISO 14001 certification have demonstrated a systematic approach to managing their environmental impact. Tracked as a certification in Carbon Connect.
Net-Zero¶
The state where the greenhouse gases emitted are balanced by an equivalent amount removed from the atmosphere. Carbon Connect allows companies to set net-zero target years and tracks progress toward them.
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)¶
A global body that validates corporate emission reduction targets to ensure they align with the Paris Agreement. Companies can be "committed" (pledged to set targets) or "validated" (targets approved by SBTi). Both statuses are tracked in Carbon Connect.
Scope 1 Emissions¶
Direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company. Examples: combustion of natural gas in boilers, diesel fuel in company vehicles, fugitive emissions from refrigerants.
Scope 2 Emissions¶
Indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. Examples: electricity consumed by the company, purchased steam, heating, or cooling. These vary significantly by region based on the local energy grid mix.
Scope 3 Emissions¶
All other indirect emissions in the company's value chain. Examples: business travel, employee commuting, purchased goods and services, waste disposal, upstream and downstream transportation. Typically the largest share of a company's total emissions but most difficult to measure.
tCO2e¶
Tonnes of CO2 equivalent -- the standard unit for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. It expresses the impact of different greenhouse gases (methane, nitrous oxide, etc.) in terms of the equivalent amount of CO2 that would create the same warming effect.
Funding and Grant Terms¶
BAFA¶
Bundesamt fur Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle (Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control) -- a German federal agency that administers energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Planned as a future data source for Carbon Connect.
Bpifrance¶
Banque Publique d'Investissement -- the French public investment bank supporting innovation, energy transition, and SME growth. Planned as a future data source for Carbon Connect.
Cohesion Funds¶
EU structural funds aimed at reducing economic and social disparities between regions. Includes the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF). Accessed through the Cohesion Open Data Portal.
CORDIS¶
Community Research and Development Information Service -- the European Commission's primary database for EU-funded research projects. One of Carbon Connect's four active data sources, covering Horizon Europe, EIC, and ERC programs.
ERDF¶
European Regional Development Fund -- an EU structural fund that supports regional development, including green transition projects, SME support, and sustainable urban development. Accessed through the Cohesion Open Data Portal.
ESF¶
European Social Fund -- an EU structural fund focused on employment and social inclusion, including green skills training and just transition support. Accessed through the Cohesion Open Data Portal.
EU Funding & Tenders Portal¶
The European Commission's official portal for all centrally managed EU funding opportunities. One of Carbon Connect's four active data sources, providing real-time access to calls for proposals.
Horizon Europe¶
The EU's main research and innovation program (2021-2027) with a budget of EUR 95.5 billion. Includes funding for clean technology, industrial decarbonization, and green innovation.
Innovation Fund¶
One of the world's largest programs for demonstrating innovative low-carbon technologies. Funded by revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System, with approximately EUR 40 billion available through 2030.
Innovate UK¶
Part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Innovate UK funds business-led innovation including clean technology and energy transition. One of Carbon Connect's four active data sources.
Just Transition Fund¶
An EU fund of EUR 17.5 billion specifically supporting regions most affected by the transition to a climate-neutral economy, particularly those dependent on fossil fuels.
KfW¶
Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau -- Germany's state-owned development bank and Europe's largest promotional bank. Offers programs for energy transition, climate action, and SME development. Planned as a future data source.
NACE Codes¶
Nomenclature statistique des Activites economiques dans la Communaute Europeenne -- the European statistical classification of economic activities. NACE codes are used by most EU grant programs to define eligible industry sectors. Carbon Connect uses NACE codes for rule-based matching.
Non-Dilutive Funding¶
Funding that does not require giving up equity (ownership) in the company. Grants are non-dilutive, making them attractive compared to venture capital or other equity-based funding.
SEDIA¶
The EU's procurement and grants program that manages the Funding & Tenders Portal API. The API key "SEDIA" is used for programmatic access to EU funding data.
UKRI¶
UK Research and Innovation -- the UK's national funding body for research and innovation. Includes Innovate UK, Research Councils, and Research England.
Technical Terms¶
AES-256¶
Advanced Encryption Standard with 256-bit keys -- a symmetric encryption algorithm widely considered the gold standard for data encryption. Used by Carbon Connect for all data at rest (stored data).
API (Application Programming Interface)¶
A set of defined rules and protocols that allow different software systems to communicate with each other. Carbon Connect exposes a REST API with 60+ endpoints for programmatic access to platform features.
Asynchronous Processing¶
A programming technique where tasks are executed without blocking the main application. Carbon Connect uses asynchronous processing for database queries, API calls, and background tasks to maintain fast response times.
Blue/Green Deployment¶
A release strategy where two identical production environments ("blue" and "green") alternate serving traffic. New code is deployed to the inactive environment, tested, and then traffic is switched over. This enables zero-downtime updates and instant rollback.
Celery¶
An open-source distributed task queue used by Carbon Connect for background processing, including data pipeline execution, email sending, and embedding generation.
Cosine Similarity¶
A mathematical measure of similarity between two vectors (lists of numbers). Carbon Connect uses cosine similarity to compare text embeddings and determine how semantically similar a company description is to a grant description.
Embeddings¶
Mathematical representations of text as vectors (lists of numbers) that capture semantic meaning. Two pieces of text with similar meaning produce similar embeddings, even if they use completely different words. Carbon Connect uses the all-mpnet-base-v2 model to generate 768-dimensional embeddings.
HNSW (Hierarchical Navigable Small World)¶
An algorithm for efficient approximate nearest-neighbor search in high-dimensional spaces. Carbon Connect uses HNSW indexes on pgvector to quickly find semantically similar grants.
JWT (JSON Web Token)¶
A compact, URL-safe token format used for authentication. Carbon Connect issues JWT access tokens (short-lived) and refresh tokens (longer-lived) to manage user sessions securely.
Meilisearch¶
An open-source search engine designed for instant full-text search. Carbon Connect uses Meilisearch to deliver sub-100ms search results across the grant database.
Multi-Tenancy¶
An architecture where a single software instance serves multiple customers (tenants) while keeping their data completely isolated. Carbon Connect uses PostgreSQL row-level security to enforce tenant isolation at the database level.
pgvector¶
A PostgreSQL extension that adds support for vector similarity search. Carbon Connect uses pgvector to store and query 768-dimensional text embeddings for semantic matching.
REST (Representational State Transfer)¶
An architectural style for designing web APIs. Carbon Connect follows REST conventions with standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PATCH, DELETE) and JSON data format.
Row-Level Security (RLS)¶
A database feature where the database itself enforces access control rules on individual rows of data. In Carbon Connect, RLS ensures that queries from one tenant never return data belonging to another tenant.
Terraform¶
An infrastructure-as-code tool that defines cloud resources in declarative configuration files. Carbon Connect uses Terraform to define and manage all AWS infrastructure, ensuring reproducibility and version control.
TLS (Transport Layer Security)¶
A cryptographic protocol that provides secure communication over a network. Carbon Connect requires TLS 1.2 or higher for all data in transit.
Valkey¶
An open-source, Redis-compatible in-memory data store. Carbon Connect uses Valkey (via AWS ElastiCache) for caching, session management, and as a message broker for Celery background tasks.
VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)¶
A logically isolated section of a cloud provider's network. Carbon Connect runs inside a VPC with public, private, and data subnets to control network access to each component.