klimaintensive

Klimaintensive is an adjective used to indicate that something has a high climate impact, requiring substantial greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, or reliance on carbon-intensive processes. The term can apply to a product, service, activity, or system and is used descriptively in sustainability discourse.

The term blends German roots (Klima, climate) with the English intensive, and appears in academic, policy, and industry writing to categorize sectors or supply chains by their potential to drive climate change. It is often used in discussions of decarbonization to identify areas where reductions may be most challenging or urgent.

Climate intensity is often measured through carbon intensity metrics, such as kilograms of CO2 equivalent per unit of production, per kilometer traveled, or per dollar of output. Life cycle assessment and the GHG Protocol provide frameworks to quantify these impacts, enabling comparisons across products, processes, and regions.

Common examples include cement production, steelmaking, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction, which tend to have high emissions and energy demands. Mitigation strategies emphasize electrification with low-carbon grids, energy efficiency, material substitution, circular economy approaches, and policy measures like carbon pricing or emissions trading.

Critics caution that the label can oversimplify complex supply chains and may stigmatize industries; precise definitions and context are important for meaningful comparisons. Klimaintensive remains a descriptive term used to highlight the climate burdens of activities and to prioritize decarbonization efforts.