Climate change mitigation aims to decrease emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into Earth’s atmosphere by decreasing sources of emissions while strengthening natural systems that absorb these gasses (like oceans, forests and soils). Effective mitigation strategies utilize whole-of-society approaches and structural transformations as effective responses.
Switching to renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency and adopting regenerative agricultural practices are necessary steps towards this end.
Reducing CO2 Emissions
To reduce CO2 emissions most effectively, switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy such as wind, solar and bioenergy is the most efficient strategy. Such an approach will create millions of jobs while improving air quality, saving consumers on electricity bills and expanding electricity access globally.
Enhancing building, industry and public space efficiency; upgrading energy generation and transmission systems; and changing agricultural practices can all help to lower carbon emissions. Furthermore, cutting back on short-lived climate pollutants like black carbon, methane and tropospheric ozone will mitigate climate change while directly improving air quality, water supply and economic security while benefiting millions of lives worldwide.
As innovation spurs future improvements, many technologies that may seem expensive when considered from carbon’s social cost perspective may turn out to be significantly less than anticipated over time. Thus, efforts to reduce greenhouse gases could cost less than widely believed.
Reducing Methane Emissions
Countries must work toward reducing emissions of methane – a potent greenhouse gas with 70 times more heating capacity than carbon dioxide over 20 years – simultaneously with efforts to curb CO2 emissions. Fossil fuel operations account for most global methane emissions and can offer significant opportunities to curb them with existing cost-effective technologies, including improving detection and repair leaks at oil and gas facilities, flooding abandoned coal mines to prevent methane escape and capturing organic waste/landfill gas emissions.
UC Berkeley Center for Law, Energy and Environment is helping the Climate Group recruit subnational governments for its Methane Initiative, working closely with states on action plans, tracking progress and peer-to-peer learning opportunities. Methane can offer unique quick wins against climate change as it only exists for short periods in the atmosphere; ambitious measures may prevent up to 0.3degC of warming by 2050 through bold initiatives.
Reducing Nitrous Oxide Emissions
Nitrous oxide is an extremely potent greenhouse gas with nearly 300 times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide. It is released through fertiliser applications applied to soil or by microbiological reactions in both groundwater and surface waters; also when burning coal or natural gas. Nitrous oxide pollution also depletes ozone layer protection levels while contributing to harmful algal blooms in lakes and rivers.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions requires everyone working together, from individuals embracing sustainable lifestyle habits, to communities advocating for smart policies, and businesses embracing renewable energy sources. With Covid-19 pandemic in some cities prioritizing public transit as a way of decreasing vehicle traffic and cutting carbon emissions.
Nations must invest in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that capture CO2 produced from power plants and industrial processes such as cement production or steelmaking, to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions from power plants or industrial processes and store it underground aquifers. CCS helps lower human-made emissions by taking them out of the air and depositing them in underground reservoirs or aquifers.
Reducing Other Greenhouse Gases
Climate change mitigation efforts include not only reducing future emissions but also extracting carbon already released into the atmosphere through methods such as planting trees or more advanced techniques like direct air capture that remove CO2 directly from it.
Reducing short-lived climate pollutants is one of the fastest, cost-effective strategies for slowing global warming and increasing sinks for greenhouse gases. These pollution sources possess global warming potentials many times greater than CO2, directly impacting air quality, food security, ecosystems and public health.
Mitigation options to reduce GHGs in the energy sector include demand reduction (such as using energy-efficient appliances or electric vehicles) and fuel switching from fossil fuels to renewable sources or nuclear power, or GHG capture – designed to remove carbon dioxide once released – with immediate benefits to air quality as well as meeting global sustainable development goals.