Meaning & use
carbon-neutral
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Releasing no more carbon dioxide than you remove or offset, so the net effect on the climate is zero.
Grammar: Used before a noun (a carbon-neutral flight) or after linking verbs (the company is carbon-neutral).
Patterns
- be carbon-neutral
- become carbon-neutral
- make something carbon-neutral
The university aims to be carbon-neutral by 2035.
They advertised a carbon-neutral flight, but the emissions were offset rather than avoided.
Our new office building is carbon-neutral thanks to solar panels and tree-planting schemes.
adjectivebefore a noun
Describing a product, activity, or organization that has achieved a balance between emitted and removed carbon.
Grammar: Often used before nouns like product, event, or company.
Patterns
- carbon-neutral product
- carbon-neutral event
- carbon-neutral company
The festival was praised as a carbon-neutral event.
They launched a carbon-neutral coffee brand last year.
Investors are increasingly interested in carbon-neutral companies.
Word forms
| comparative | more carbon-neutral |
|---|---|
| superlative | most carbon-neutral |
Common combinations
- carbon-neutral by 2050
- Many countries have promised to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
- go carbon-neutral
- The airline plans to go carbon-neutral within a decade.
- carbon-neutral target
- The city set a carbon-neutral target for all new buildings.
- certified carbon-neutral
- Only certified carbon-neutral products carry this label.
Synonyms and how they differ
- net-zero
- Net-zero is broader: it covers all greenhouse gases, not just carbon dioxide, and usually refers to a whole economy or company.
- zero-carbon
- Zero-carbon means no carbon is released at all, while carbon-neutral allows some emissions if they are balanced by removals.
Word family
- carbon neutrality noun
- The state of being carbon-neutral.
- carbon offset noun
- A payment or project that removes or reduces carbon dioxide to balance emissions elsewhere.
Commonly confused: carbon-neutral or carbon-free?
carbon-neutral vs carbon-free
Carbon-free means no carbon is produced at all, whereas carbon-neutral means emissions are balanced by removals or offsets.
Practice
The company claims that all its deliveries are now carbon-______ because it plants trees to absorb the same amount of CO2 it produces.
Choose one answer.
Carbon-neutral fits because the company balances its emissions by removing an equal amount. Carbon-free would mean it produces no CO2 at all, which is not the case here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “carbon-neutral”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.