Glossary
Climate and transition
What is cost of abatement?
Capital spent per tonne of CO2e avoided.
The only number that lets you compare a heat pump retrofit with a grid battery. A cheap project that abates nothing is worse than an expensive one that abates a lot, and a tariff that looks generous is often just paying for measurement you never did.
A worked example
A $2m heat pump retrofit that avoids 400 tonnes a year for ten years abates 4,000 tonnes: $500 a tonne. A $5m grid battery that avoids 50,000 tonnes over its life costs $100 a tonne, so it's the better buy despite the bigger cheque.
Where it catches you in the game
- The climate desk quotes it on every project card; low cost per tonne clears the mandate faster.
Related terms
Learn it by using it
Definitions stick once they've cost you money. Take a seat, make three calls a year and watch what cost of abatement does to your returns.