What is the difference between removal and avoided emissions?

These two are often mixed up:

• Removal means taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it. A growing tree is a removal.
• Avoided emissions means emissions that would have happened but did not. Stopping a forest from being cleared, or using solar power instead of coal power, avoids emissions.

Both are useful, but they are different claims and should not be added together as if they were the same. Under the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, a company reports its own emissions in its inventory and reports offsets or removals separately, not hidden inside the total.