CORRECTED - U.N. Climate change debate coins new jargon

(Corrects Bali is an island, not a city, in 10th paragraph)

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - 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 likely to be heard this week at a trio of U.S. 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 rejects this agreement, arguing that it unfairly exempts developing countries like China and India. The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

Framework - The United Nations 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.

Cap and trade - Policy tool that sets limits on harmful emissions, giving allowances to affected industries and countries within these limits, or caps. Those with emissions above the cap can trade with those with emissions below it. Also known as emissions trading.

Carbon footprint - A measure of the impact of human activities on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases they produce, measured in units of carbon dioxide.