Climate change mitigation aims to stop greenhouse gases from building up in the atmosphere and thus decrease global temperatures, thus slowing or stopping irreversible changes such as sea level rise and extreme weather events.
Reduce energy demand through efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon pricing; preserve forests as carbon sinks; and use geoengineering techniques to remove short-lived climate pollutants from the atmosphere.
UNDP
UNDP works closely with countries to assist them in building climate-resilient societies and economies. Through initiatives and programs such as rural mini-grids and renewables energy access solutions, sustainable land use practices, waste-to-energy projects and reduced deforestation emissions reduction efforts we help countries adopt sustainable development pathways which reduce the risks of climate change impacts on people’s livelihoods and promote climate resilience.
UNDP’s work to advance low-carbon, climate-resilient development seeks to make economic progress greener and more equitable for all. In particular, UNDP supports the climate change ambitions of some of the poorest nations by assisting them to increase their National Determined Contributions (NDCs), Low Emission Development Strategies and national Monitoring and Reporting Systems. We assist them by mainstreaming climate change into policies and plans so that adaptation goes hand-in-hand with poverty reduction. Furthermore, UNDP has helped raise awareness around climate change by increasing awareness among heads of State/governments as well as CEOs globally.
Local Governments
Local governments can play an invaluable role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting health from climate change, but they often face unique challenges due to national fiscal, regulatory, and policy landscapes in which they operate.
Financial constraints remain one of the key obstacles to local climate change mitigation policies being implemented, as most respondents in our survey perceived lack of funds as being an impediment to doing so. This likely reflects local authorities having limited budgets available and prioritizing core statutory services like social care for an ageing population over climate mitigation policies.
The survey also demonstrated that local government officers with pro-climate action attitudes were more likely to participate in the implementation of climate change mitigation policies at local governments, suggesting the development of multiple policy instruments is essential in aiding local governments reduce emissions and protect public health – such as sharing of information, financial incentives (subsidy schemes and tax levies), regulations etc.
Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels include coal, oil and natural gas – compounds of carbon and hydrogen that store solar energy until burned off as heat energy or Carbon Dioxide; an greenhouse gas.
Emissions from burning fossil fuels are one of the primary contributors to climate change, while also being one of the primary sources of air pollution. Coal-fired power plants emit mercury, sulfur dioxide that contributes to acid rain, particulate matter that may lead to respiratory illness in humans, while oil-powered cars and trucks create nitrous oxide emissions which contribute to smog formation.
Mitigation efforts focus on limiting the release of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, while strengthening sinks that collect and store them such as oceans, forests and soils. This includes limiting GHG emissions as well as cutting back fossil fuel use for energy production and transportation while investing in carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Market-Based Instruments
Market-based instruments (MBIs) are cost-efficient tools used to alter economic signals in order to provide incentives and meet policy objectives. MBIs may take the form of charging or regulating prices or selling tradable permits and can often form part of an overall strategy to reduce GHG emissions.
MBIs include taxes, charges and tradable permit schemes as well as energy efficiency standards, green building policies, deposit-refund systems, eco-labelling and licensing schemes aimed at encouraging cleaner activities while disincentivizing unsustainable ones. These instruments serve to incentivise cleaner activities while discouraging unsustainable ones.
Market-based instruments, such as tradable permit schemes, allow firms to buy and sell emission allowances on an industrial scale. Other examples of market-based instruments include carbon taxes and cap-and-trade mechanisms. Such mechanisms have the potential for co-benefits that increase economic value of reduced emissions. Some scholars have begun studying mixed EP policy portfolios’ impacts on firms’ sustainable technological innovation (STI); perhaps finding that using both market and nonmarket instruments may speed up firms’ STI efforts.