CO2earvoiksi

CO2earvoiksi is a Finnish term used in environmental accounting to describe the conversion of different greenhouse gas emissions into CO2-equivalent values. The concept corresponds to the internationally common CO2e metric and appears in Finnish reports, datasets, and policy discussions as a way to aggregate diverse gases into a single unit of climate impact.

Calculation: For each gas, its mass is multiplied by a global warming potential (GWP) value assigned for a chosen time horizon, and the results are summed. CO2earvoiksi = sum(mass_i × GWP_i). The standard approach uses GWP over a 100-year horizon, but other horizons are also used. The list of gases can include CO2, CH4, N2O, and various fluorinated gases or sulfur hexafluoride. Because GWP depends on the selected metric, different analyses can yield different CO2earvoiksi figures from the same data.

Applications and limitations: CO2earvoiksi is used in lifecycle assessments, emissions inventories, and corporate carbon-footprint reporting. It provides a simplified, comparable measure of climate impact but can obscure nuances such as gas lifetimes, chemical interactions, and non-CO2 climate effects. Analysts should clearly state the chosen GWP values, time horizon, and gas list when presenting CO2earvoiksi figures.

See also: CO2e, greenhouse gas, global warming potential, lifecycle assessment.