FACTBOX - Climate change debate coins new jargon

REUTERS - The world's biggest emitters of global-warming greenhouse gases met behind closed doors on Wednesday for a U.S.-sponsored conference as protesters pointed out Hawaii's vulnerability to climate change.

To understand the climate-change debate, it helps to understand the jargon, a mixture of diplomatese, pundit-speak and techno-talk. Here are some terms used at meetings on global warming.

KYOTO - Short for Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement adopted in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, which sets binding targets for emission of greenhouse gases that spur global warming. Under this agreement, developed countries are to cut their emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below what they were in 1990. The United States rejected this agreement, arguing that it unfairly exempts developing countries like China and India. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

FRAMEWORK - The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, a 1992 agreement that the United States and 191 other countries have signed. Like Kyoto, it seeks to keep greenhouse gases from hitting a level that would interfere with climate, but has no legally binding requirements.

GREENHOUSE GASES - Chemicals that trap the sun's heat near the Earth like a blanket. These substances include carbon dioxide, which is emitted by humans and all other creatures that breathe air. They are also emitted by coal-fired power plants and petroleum-fueled vehicles. They are not the most intense greenhouse gas -- methane is 10 times more powerful in contributing to global warming -- but carbon dioxide from fossil fuel consumption produces 82 percent of the world's human-generated greenhouse gases.