As with a leaky boat, mitigating climate change requires patching up its holes by decreasing greenhouse gas sources and increasing sinks for their emission – including carbon.

Also included is encouraging sustainable and renewable energy sources as well as upgrading urban systems to manage floods, heat waves and other climate impacts more effectively, which in turn has health-related co-benefits.

Biological Carbon Sequestration

Biological carbon sequestration has long been an effective natural way of lowering global CO2 levels; however, its rate has now fallen behind human emissions.

One effective solution to address this imbalance is by restoring and improving terrestrial ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and native prairies to increase their ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it as biomass – not only does this strategy lower atmospheric CO2 pollution but it also provides habitat improvements and increases biodiversity for plants, animals and people alike.

Second, increasing oceanic photosynthesis through iron fertilization could increase photosynthesis to store carbon in marine sediments on the seafloor – an expensive approach which may take decades before reaching full potential. Thirdly, developing genetic engineering approaches which modify photoassimilation of carbon into crop plants could not only mitigate carbon but also boost yield and provide value-added chemicals.

Reducing Fossil Fuel Emissions

Cutting fossil fuel emissions is one of the best ways to combat climate change, as it reduces GHGs released into the atmosphere, improves air quality by lowering fine particulates and nitrogen oxide pollution, and enhances carbon sinks through forest growth and other natural processes.

Climate mitigation activities typically consist of switching away from fossil fuel usage by switching to technology that doesn’t produce direct greenhouse gases such as renewable and nuclear energy sources or regenerative agricultural practices, or by restricting fossil fuel production through pollution control or carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies.

Reducing demand side greenhouse gas emissions requires lifestyle adjustments such as walking or bicycling more frequently, using less electricity, driving electric cars or limiting long-haul flights. Investments in renewable energy and improving building energy efficiency can also make a substantial dent in emissions; such supply-side strategies can save money through lower fossil fuel consumption and energy bills and reduction of waste disposal and production of pollutants like nitrous oxides or fine particulates.

Adaptation to a Changing Climate

Adaptation refers to becoming more resilient against climate change impacts such as sea level rise, floods, heat extremes, drought and changing pests. To do this successfully requires taking many actions ranging from building infrastructure that withstands more frequent and severe weather events to planting crops to protecting natural ecosystems as well as moving or raising up cities on coastlines and creating disaster preparedness plans.

Adaptation measures often bring with them multiple co-benefits for mitigation, sustainability and development (including poverty alleviation). For instance, planting street trees not only reduces stormwater runoff (adaptation), but also increases carbon storage (mitigation).

Adaptation must be balanced against its cost, which may be substantial. Therefore, any adaptation efforts should include substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; this will not only slow the rate of climate change but also make many adaptation options more effective or feasible – energy efficiency measures being one such method to curb energy use and thus GHG emissions.

Transition to a Sustainable Economy

If we want to meet our target of not exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, global economies must change significantly if we want to meet it. This means reducing fossil fuel consumption, moving towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, increasing energy efficiency and switching over to regenerative agricultural practices. It will also require reducing pressure on natural resources while simultaneously restoring ecosystems already overburdened with stressors such as overfishing or droughts. Unfortunately, transitioning towards a sustainable economy won’t come cheap; as many carbon intensive firms that rely heavily on fossil-fuel production systems will likely face reassessments (stranded assets).

Consumers will likely pay more as it means higher electricity and energy prices and costs; livelihoods of many workers who worked in polluting industries will also be at stake, though green macroeconomic policies can help mitigate some costs by strengthening price signals through externality pricing, increasing public and hybrid funding for green transition projects, as well as softening social and labour market impacts on workers who must transition into different careers.