Climate change mitigation includes both reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increasing carbon sequestration, with actions such as adopting renewable energy sources, improving energy efficiency measures, adopting regenerative agricultural practices and protecting and restoring forests or other critical ecosystems.
To limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, global emissions must be drastically cut back. Just as when plugging a leaky boat, mitigation and adaptation must work hand-in-hand.
Reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs)
Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), including black carbon, tropospheric ozone and hydrofluorocarbons have extremely short atmospheric lifetimes and can heat the atmosphere faster per molecule than carbon dioxide does. Reducing emissions provides a valuable opportunity to address climate and air quality concerns across multiple sectors at relatively low costs.
Reduced emissions will also help decrease premature deaths caused by indoor and outdoor air pollution exposures in low- and middle-income countries – including chronic respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses that result from this exposure. Each year approximately seven million people die prematurely from such exposures.
Research indicates that swift action to decrease SLCPs and implement targeted nature-based solutions (NbSs) are necessary for mitigating near-term warming, slowing self-reinforcing climate feedbacks, avoiding catastrophic tipping points, and meeting long-term carbon neutrality and climate stabilization targets. Such actions complement global CO2 emission limits. This article highlights key challenges and opportunities associated with speeding up these activities and reviews current scientific advances, including ways to target reductions of non-CO2 GHGs as SLCPs.
Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Reduce GHG emissions is the key to mitigating climate change impacts and meeting Paris Agreement-indicated goals of 1.5 degrees of global warming, as laid out in Article 161. In particular, CO2 emissions need to peak and then decline rapidly until they reach net zero by 2050-2060 – the sooner and lower these peak, the fewer carbon removal measures may need to be used later in this century (IPCC 2014a and 2014b).
Farmers, ranchers and forest landowners across working lands can contribute to climate solutions by adopting climate-smart agriculture practices such as using renewable energy sources, improving soil health and reducing water use. National Resource Conservation Service offers producers a broad array of climate mitigation activities via its Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program that offer quantifiable benefits such as carbon sequestration or reduced emissions; additionally many of these climate-smart practices also have other positive outcomes such as improved soil health, water quality, pollinator habitat or wildlife habitat improvements.
Adapting to a changing climate
The global community must invest massive efforts to adapt to rising temperatures, rising seas, harsher storms and more volatile rainfall patterns. Through adaptation activities, vulnerability to current and expected climate change impacts such as increased heatwaves, floods, wildfires, water shortages and biodiversity loss may be reduced.
Early warning of climate threats is one of the most cost-effective adaptation measures, producing approximately nine dollars worth of benefits for every dollar invested. Early warning also encourages people to take proactive steps – from blocking doors with sandbags or evacuation when alarm bells sound – which can significantly decrease damage and deaths caused by extreme climate events.
Climate mitigation activities such as improving energy efficiency, switching to cleaner fuel sources like renewables and nuclear power and extracting carbon from the atmosphere (carbon capture and storage – CCS) will all help limit global warming to 1.5degC – meaning less severe weather events, sea level rise, habitat loss, food insecurity and water stress as well as reduced risks of irreversible climate impacts.
Increasing resilience
Rebuilding resilience is essential to protecting people and communities from climate harm, from building flood defences, setting up early warning systems for cyclones, changing crop varieties or redesigning communication and business systems. Governments can assist by providing incentives to take these actions, information regarding liabilities and responsibilities as well as financing upfront solutions with upfront costs.
Many governments are also increasingly adept at incorporating adaptation and resilience measures into development plans, including building coastal and inland storm defenses, designing new infrastructure assets with resilience in mind, revising land use plans to reflect rising sea levels risk, as well as testing out innovative insurance schemes.
NRCS is working hard to increase climate mitigation activities through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). You can view an updated list of practices which have been evaluated against our Climate-Smart definition here.