The Paris Agreement from the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2015 states that by 2050-2100, there should be a “balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases” (GHGs) to limit the global mean temperature rise to less than 2˚C relative to the pre-industrial climate. The purpose of this briefing note is to clarify what a ‘balance’ of greenhouse gases means in the context of the Paris Agreement and to discuss how this could be achieved.