Naturally-occurring, carbon-containing compounds which result from processes related to living tissue and which evaporate readily at low temperatures. These substances are mostly derived from fats or oils in living or decaying matter, and include everything from gasoline and methane (substances produced from the decay of living tissue) to essential oils, saps and some gaseous emissions from animal waste.

Substances refined from oils and fats are also considered VOCs. The best-known VOCs tend to be known as solvents, petroleum products and man-made chemicals, but because these substances are derived from fossil fuels, and because fossil fuel is derived from the fats and oils of living matter, they qualify as organic in this context.

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