 Land use and land cover change, LULCC, emissions are highly uncertain due to the complex nature of biological and environmental processes involved. The existing literature uses various definitions of the net LULCC flux, which leads to significant discrepancies in the estimated values. These discrepancies are further exacerbated by the fact that many studies do not take into consideration the legacy fluxes or the loss of sink capacity. Additionally, the application of inconsistent definitions of the net LULCC flux and residual sink has resulted in double counting of fluxes in the past. To reduce this uncertainty, it is important to standardize the terminology used in the literature and ensure consistency in the definitions of the net LULCC flux and residual sink. This article was authored by J. Pongratz, C. H. Reich, R. A. Houghton and others.