Global warming potential

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming. It is a relative scale which compares the gas in question to that of the same mass of carbon dioxide whose GWP is one.

The exact definition is to be fonud in the IPCC TAR [1].

Examples:

• carbon dioxide has a GWP of exactly 1 (since it is the baseline unit to which all other greenhouse gases are compared.)
• methane has a GWP of 21
• nitrogen dioxide has a GWP of 310

Some hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) compounds have GWPs of several thousands (HFC-23 is 11,700).